A paralyzed spinal patient has been injected with human embryonic stem cells in a world-first attempt to help them in walking once again.

Doctors hopes that the stem cells will be helpful to nerves in a newly damaged spinal cord regenerate before the disability becomes permanent. This patient has had several million stem cells injected into the site of his injury in an endeavor to find a revolutionary cure as per the US firm which carried out the hugely controversial experiment.

This study has been described last night by University College London Professor Chris Mason as “the dawn of the Stem Cell Age”. It is almost sure to reignite an incendiary debate over the ethics of the treatment which utilizes cells derived from three-to-five-day old fertilized embryos which are discarded by IVF doctors.

On one hand it offers a new hope to patients suffering from devastating spinal injuries and blindness and two specific areas being targeted by the US tests.

Scientists are also continuing to look at the potential of stem cells for new ways of treating cancer, Parkinson’s disease and a range of other illnesses.