Dodging the ethical dilemma on stem cell research?

Years ago when I interviewed Loyola University geneticist Father Kevin Fitzgerald, S.J., he argued that the moral debate then emerging over embryonic stem cell research could, with the right resources and patience, be entirely sidestepped as "differenciated" adult cells could one day be manipulated to perform the same functions of embryonic stem cells. Now new research out of universities in Kyoto, Japan and Madison, Wisconsin appears to have justified Father Fitzgerald's confidence in human ingenuity. This breakthrough and quickly accelerating developments in the research could allow this particular culture war to end in a truce that should satisfy the ethical concerns of culture-of-lifers and the cruel anxieties of the folks unfortunate enough to be gravely in need of the end results of stem cell research. Let's hope this transcontinental lab work can result in actual clinical therapy before too long.