Spain under new pressure to back embryo work:

The Spanish government has come under renewed pressure to allow embryonic stem cell research. James Shapiro, of the Center for Clinical Islet Transplantation, at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada, has joined the debate, praising the work being led by Bernat Soria, director of the bioengineering institute of the Miguel Hernandez university, in Elche, Spain, into the synthesis of pancreatic beta cells, responsible for producing insulin. Dr Shapiro voiced his support for Dr Soria at the annual congress of the Spanish diabetes society, held in Ca diz earlier this month. Dr Soria has said he will be forced to continue his work abroad, in "an undisclosed country", according to statements made to El Pais. Some 2,000 cadaveric pancreases become available in the US every year, while there are about one million type-1 diabetes patients in the US alone, according to the New York-based Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.