Stem Cell Research Goal: Cures, Not Clones

California researchers have found themselves on the fast track of stem cell research.

Voters approved Proposition 71, a three billion-dollar bond measure to fund human embryonic stem cell research for ten years.

At a post-election biomedical conference, the dean of Stanford University School of Medicine said scientists aren´t looking to clone humans.

They want to cure humans.

Doctor Philip Pizzo says stem cells are useful because they can continue to grow and replicate themselves, or form different tissues.

He says rigorous scientific review must take place so the best ideas are funded.

Some opponents of stem cell research, including actor Mel Gibson, say they shouldn´t help pay for cloning human embryos.

But Pizzo says reproductive cloning is “morally wrong” and is not the aim of researchers.

Supporters say it´s the new frontier of science.