Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 29 October 2008 (WA 167–68), what non-reproductive applications would benefit from nuclear transfer that have not been superseded by the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
Answer
The Government believe that the question of whether one technique in stem cell research has superseded another is, at this stage, entirely premature. Advances over the past decade in embryonic stem cell research have fed into advances in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Therefore, it is impossible to predict what the relative contributions of nuclear transfer and PS cell technology might ultimately be to medical needs. That is why the Government continue to support all forms of stem cell research.