ARTICLE

Germany to double funding for stem cell research: minister says
Sat Nov 24, 4:36 PM ET
The German government will double its funding for stem cell research, the research minister announced Saturday.
Berlin is to increase the current allocation of five million euros (7.4 million dollars) to just under 10 million euros, Annette Schavan told the weekly Focus magazine in an interview to be published Monday.
"From now on we are going to double the annual funding total for adult cell recoding techniques, in order to push forward advances in this area," she said.
"Over the next few years Germany must be a motor in adult stem cell research so that we can expand on the results already obtained," she added.
The German announcement came after scientists in Japan and the United States said earlier this week they had generated stem cells from human skin. The breakthrough could help in the fight against major diseases and sidestep the battle over using embryonic cells.
Schavan said the success would not have been possible without "the knowledge gained from research on embryonic stem cells."