Research on adult stem cells and adult pluripotent stem cells (iPS) doesn’t lead to the destruction of embryos and broadens promising outlook for regenerative medicine.
Moreover, the laboratories carrying out research on embryo stem cells recognize the potential of alternative techniques. For Roche, “worldwide progress in stem cell research within the last several years has shown that scientific developments in pluripotent stem cell biology (e.g reprogramming adult stem cells or somatic cells) provides a promising opportunity for the future” (www.roche.com/sus_pos_stem_clon.pdf).
Even so, these laboratories are not refraining from research on embryo stem cells. Why ? Probably for a range of reasons of which they are conscious to a greater or lesser extent: financial reasons (ensuring the profitability of major investments already made in embryo stem cells research) and ideological reasons (not setting a limit on the control of life).
To the contrary, other laboratories, such as Amgen, have exclusively adopted alternative techniques.