At the time of one if the original writeups in this node it was thought that the only readily accessible source of stem cells was from harvested human foetuses, which understandably raised many
moral and
ethical issues. Fortunately this idea has recently been disproved, as several new sources have turned up, including
bone marrow, and
umbilical cord blood.
The most interesting new source uncovered so far was discovered due to the work of an American research team headed by Dr. Marc Hedrick, which has managed to collect stem cells from the fat removed during a liposuction operation. The team, based at UCLA, have coaxed the cells to develop into bone, muscle and cartilage and are apparently working on making the cells develop into neural tissue
Sources: www.newscientist.com