‘Embryo-saving’ alternatives?

This Section deals with the search for ‘embryo-saving’ sources of embryonic stem cells that could be used in autologous cell therapy. ‘Embryo-saving’ means that no human embryos have to be created in order to obtain the stem cells, thus enabling skirting of the related moral and legal discussion.

Isolating stem cells from surplus embryos is also embryo-saving in this sense, but this approach does not produce stem cells with a tissue type that is an exact match for the patient. The question is therefore whether methods (forms of SCNT or alternatives to it) can be devised that produce embryonic stem cells for autologous cell therapy without creating human embryos in the process.