No Need to Kill Babies

Scientists have now grown a complex, replacement organ for humans using their own adult stem cells.

The once-fanciful dream of regrowing the heart and other failing organs has suddenly edged closer to reality: The first complex organ, the bladder, has been rebuilt in seven patients from living tissue cultivated in the lab.

“It’s really science fiction at its best,” marvels Tracy McNamara whose daughter got one of the first transplants and is living a more normal life because of it.

The breakthrough was reported online Tuesday in The Lancet medical journal where doctors explained how they mostly replaced diseased bladders from seven youngsters with tissue grown from the patients’ own cells. Though simpler tissues like skin and bone have been regrown and transplanted, this is the first time it has been accomplished with a more complex organ.

No babies were harmed in making this stupendous medical advancement.