emergence from the dark ages...........

NEW YORK — Geron Corp. has begun testing an embryonic stem-cell treatment on a patient with spinal cord injuries, marking the first time such a medical therapy has been used on a human in a government approved study.

The company said it enrolled the first patient in the early stage study, which will look at the safety of the treatment and how well the patient can tolerate it. The patient was enrolled at Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation center in Atlanta, one of seven potential sites in the United States. In order to participate, a patient must have been injured within the previous two weeks.