Royan Institute, a research and clinical centre in Iran, scientists successfully used human embryonic stem cells in a novel procedure to heal rats with spinal cord injuries.

For the first time neural tubes, structures that give rise to the brain and spinal cord, has been used to treat spinal cord injuries claims scientists.

To treat these rats, they have injected human embryonic stem cells - an ethical taboo in US.

Dr Reza Samani of the Royan Institute said “In Iran we don’t have this because we don’t call an embryo a human until 120 days. At that time, in our texts, Islamic texts like Koran said that the ghost, the soul of the human comes to the embryo. At that time we call it human.”

Dr Reza said: “All around the world, including America, there are so many embryos they’re throwing away. What’s the difference between an embryo dying for research and an embryo dying in the garbage bag?”

Researchers saw full movement of the animals’ limbs, 28 days after treating the injured rats.
Source: Channel News Asia via Joel

It appears even an Islamic nation like Iran has less hindering taboo than so-called secular US, in efforts to find cure for life threatening diseases by embryonic stem cell research.