Hint of Things to Come? Post Implantation Embryonic Stem Cells Discovered in Mice

I do not believe for a second that in the long term, embryonic stem cell research will be limited to early pre-implantation embryos destroyed in Petri dishes. Indeed, as I have repeatedly noted, New Jersey has already legalized human cloned fetal farming, only requiring that cloned fetuses be destroyed before the moment after birth. (This can’t be done yet, technologically.) Along this line, companies like Advanced Cell Technology have already conducted cloned fetal farming experiments in cows.

And here is another hint of things to come: Scientists have found pluripotent ES cells in post implantation mouse embryos. From Nature:

New cell lines from mouse epiblast share defining features with human embryonic stem cells. Mouse and human embryonic stem (ES) cells use different signalling pathways to maintain their pluripotent status. Now, a new kind of pluripotent ES cell is described. This cell type is derived from mouse embryos after they implant in the wall of the uterus, and shares many defining features with human ES cells, including signalling responses that control differentiation to somatic fates.

Of course, this does not mean necessarily that scientists will want to study the same ES cells in humans—assuming they exist. But given the arguments given by Big Biotech and its boosters in favor of ESCR/human cloning, e.g., they are not really human because they will never be born, not persons, CURES!, etc, etc., what reason would there be for them not to proceed with such research, particularly if artificial wombs are created to permit out-of-body gestation? After all, in ESCR/human cloning, the watch word is “anything goes.”