Paralyzed woman walks again after stem cell therapy

SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean woman paralyzed for 20 years is walking again after scientists say they repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood.

Hwang Mi-Soon, 37, had been bedridden since damaging her back in an accident two decades ago.

Last week her eyes glistened with tears as she walked again with the help of a walking frame at a press conference where South Korea (news - web sites) researchers went public for the first time with the results of their stem-cell therapy.

They said it was the world's first published case in which a patient with spinal cord injuries had been successfully treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

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GO STEM CELL RESEARCH! SCREW THE "ETHICS AND MORALS"!!!

I don't believe there is any ethical or moral controversy surrounding the use of stem cells in this case.

I think they should allow stem cell research.

I do believe in embryonic stem cell research, as it is not what it is made out to be. If not, they should focus on other stem cell types.

I don't know who you mean by "they" but there is no law prohibiting stem cell research.

I realize that, I guess this is more a way to show that it really doesn't need the negative connotation that it has recevied. This is more about showing that there are other ways to do it. Also, the rhetoric needs to be changed to show that there are other types of stem cell research available. The common public believes that the only way to harvest and research stem cells is to kill babies. Unfortunately that is what is being told by the media, and what we are led to believe. You are correct about the law.

I am in total agreement.