In a not too distant future, we will look back to this era as a time many different debates were going on. One of these debates that will so well define this era is stem cell research. We will either look back from a time in the future where we have outlawed this barbaric practice, and wonder why we ever even considered it in the first place. Or perhaps we’ll look back and wonder why on earth we did not just get on with endorsing the practice fully, thinking of all the ruined lives that we could have fixed. But, right now, people like our Ilford escorts have plenty to say for and against the subject.

There are still plenty of moral qualms surrounding stem cell research, but it certainly gained a few points in favour of itself when Russell Turnbull, 38, regained the sight in his right eye recently, an eye which had been unable to see for 15 years. Turnbull lost the sight in his right eye when someone squirted it with ammonia when he was trying to break up a bus row.

You might agree that this doesn’t seem like a very fair scenario. Turnbull was trying to be of assistance, and he ended up losing sight in his right eye. It is little surprise that he feels he is still deserving of vision from both eyes. And stem cell research returned what was rightfully his.

The process involved taking a single square millimetre of stem cells from his good left cornea, putting it on a sheet of amniotic membrane, submerging it in Turnbull’s blood mixed with glucose, insulin and hydrocortisone. The stem cells then grew until they cover the membrane’s surface. This membrane and the stem cells that grew in and over it were then artificially attached to Turnbull’s right eye. After eight weeks, the stem cell membrane attached itself naturally to the damaged eye, and Turnbull’s sight was restored.

Surely in the face of such success, even the most stubborn antagonists of stem cell research must begin to waver slightly. Often their qualms are founded on ethic or religious grounds.. Many claim that we are ‘playing god’ by dabbling in stem cell research. But more rational arguments claim that we are just using knowledge that we gain to better our lives. Because if a stubborn antagonist suddenly lost the sight in one eye, perhaps he or she might reconsider his or her stance on stem cells after all.