Embryonic stem cell growth medium and minced-up human embryos

Traditionally, embryonic stem cells have been grown on cells from mouse embryos.  Stem cells need the proper external cues to grow and differentiate properly and mouse embryos have in the past been the medium of choice.  Not any more. James Thomson, the scientist who first isolated human embryonic stem cells (ESC) in 1998 has created a new animal-free media and has successfully destroyed 5 embryos and grown 2 new ESC lines on this new media.  Read this article from Medical News Today. Apparently there is a problem with growing human stem cells on cells from mice:

Successfully growing living cells outside the body generally requires providing the cells in a lab dish with the right mix of nutrients, hormones, growth factors and blood serum. But those methods have often depended on animal cells - such as those obtained from mouse embryos in the case of embryonic stem cells - and other animal products to keep the cells alive and thriving in culture. Some scientists worry that animal viruses and other problematic agents might be taken up in the human cells and infect human patients, should those cells be used for therapy.

This is disheartneing not just because it means more embryos will be destroyed for their stem cells.  Naturally my first thought was, what is this new miracle media?  I have searched every article to find the answer and have found the details conspicuously absent.  Reading near the bottom of the Medical News Today article I found this:

The new work effectively removes remaining animal products such as bovine serum and replaces them with products of human origin in a recipe that is completely defined.  [emphasis added]

Interesting.  Just products of human origin.  Logic would dictate that if mouse embryos were replaced with human products, what might those products be?  Human embryos maybe?  Couple the above with the following quote from investigative reporter Elaine Dewar's book The Second Tree and a possible picture begins to emerge.  Dewar asks a stem cell researcher about how he grows his embryonic stem cell lines:

So I asked, what do you grow these [embryonic] cell lines on now?  On minced up human embryos, he replied.  I cringed.  "Isn't there an ethical issue in that?"  "You can take it from abortions.  In the human you can use earlier embryos, from the first trimester," he said.

I truly hope this "new media" does not consist of "minced up human embryos."  It may not.  I will continue to ferret out the exact details of this "new media" and let you know!