When my daughter was born, we paid for a service to store her umbilical cord. We obviously hope it's never needed, and didn't really know whether it would ever prove to have medical benefits, but figured that the rapid innovation taking place in medicine and science made the cost worth it.

This is great news and another step in the right direction toward a cure for a disease that causes many to die, become blind, have a stroke, or develop other terrible complications. I doubt I'll see a cure in my lifetime, but maybe my nephew's lifetime. He's 10 and been insulin-dependent since he was 5.

Using embryonic stems cells to cure disease, seems like a contradiction in terms. It is good stem cell research has found ways to access and find stem cell that are available and abundant, and have the same, or greater potential. The best way to fix someone's problems would be using their own stem cells, to reduce rejection, or a adult that has healthy cells., which have been tested by living.

Pokkets, I think that this is just a step towards what you are looking at as a contradiction. I think that using your own cells will happen in time, and with cord banking and things like that you may end up using your own stem cells from birth.