§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the benefits of using(a) adult stem cells and (b) stem cells from embryos created by therapeutic cloning in treating damage to the brain, internal organs, bone and other tissues and organs. [134257]
§ Yvette CooperThe Chief Medical Officer's Expert Group in its report "Stem Cell Research: Medical Progress with Responsibility" concluded that research involving the extraction and use of stem cells raised the prospect of a range of exciting new therapeutic possibilities for the repair of diseased or damaged tissues including repairing nerve cells lost in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, replacing lost heart muscle cells in cases of congestive heart failure, bone cells in osteoporosis, liver cells in cases of hepatitis or cirrhosis and so on.
The Expert Group concluded that embryonic stem cells have the potential to develop into a far greater range of tissues than adult derived stem cells. The Group went on to say that while the long term promise of stem cells derived from adult tissue may equal or even surpass that of embryonic stem cells it was probable that scientific advances from embryonic stem cell research would be necessary to understand how to make greater use of stem cells derived from adult tissue.