India to set up guidelines for stem cell research

India may tighten its existing rules concerning embryonic stem cell research to prevent violation of medical ethics. Stem cell research is the most prominent research occurring in the biomedical community today. Embryonic stem cells are malleable cells that form the human embryo and later develop into the various specialised cells of the body. Stem cell research is aimed at manipulating the function of these early cells to form cells that can be used to form specialised organs like the heart, liver, lungs etc. India's department of Biotechnology has set up a bioethics committee that will formulate and enforce guidelines so as to prevent the exodus of embryonic stem cells for research in other countries. This committee has come into existence after concerns were raised about the export of stem cells from India. In India, abortion is legal and thus there is a surplus of discarded embryos. These embryos could be supplied to other countries where there are ongoing religious and social debates regarding abortion. The existing ICMR (Indian Council of Medical research) guidelines for stem cell research allow research on embryonic stem cells in India with the consent of the donors. Any profits incurred thereof will have to be shared with the donors. All research efforts will have to be approved by the bioethics panel after the guidelines have been approved by the law ministry. Current biomedical research in India is far behind research in most other developed countries. However, due to the availability of embryos, and available infrastructure for research, India could become one of the major centres for stem cell research. At present stem cell research in the early stages is only being carried out by a few governmental organisations. Recently two Hyderabad based private companies have also joined the research bandwagon. Although ethical guidelines for DNA fingerprinting, genetic code research and prenatal diagnostic techniques have already been drawn up by the ICMR, there are no ethical codes for stem cell research, whose potential applications are gradually coming to light. An elaborate code of conduct thus needs to be prepared to "stem" unethical cell research.

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