The Hindu Business Line : `Guidelines needed for stem cell research'

INDIA requires guidelines to tap the tremendous potential held out by stem cells, especially in medicine, in a scientific manner and safeguarding ethical issues, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Director-General, Dr R.A. Mashelkar, said here today.

Stem cells have also raised commercial implications, intellectual property rights and a whole lot of issues that are currently engaging the scientists, politicians and citizens, Dr Mashelkar, said at the two-day annual meeting of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA).

The `draft guidelines', made by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), have remained static. They need to be converted to legislation and implemented. Countries such as the US, the UK, Australia, France, South Korea and Taiwan have formulated guidelines according to their perceptions of stem cells already.

The INSA will play a greater role in providing informed scientific inputs for Government policy and public debate on important issues.

It cannot be an `Elite Club', said Dr Mashelkar, who is currently its President.

The American Academy of Sciences and the UK Science Academy have already brought out comprehensive reports on stem cells and cloning and their implications, he pointed out.

In this context, the INSA also felt it fit to raise a debate on this important field of biology. The excitement raised by the claims of South Korean researcher Mr Hwang Woo Suk and subsequent findings of fraud, notwithstanding, research is progressing towards some exciting insights, especially in biomedical area, INSA scientists said.

Dr C.M. Habibullah of the Deccan Medical College, who delivered the keynote address, said several US biotech companies were looking at India for joint research in stem cells. Similarly, some companies have set up centres in India already.

Terming stem cells as lot of hype, hope and steady progress, Dr Habibullah felt that strict guidelines were urgently required in the country as the scope for unethical methods, claims was rife.

At the moment, the research within the country is restricted to a few institutes, but the opportunity for growth is very high because of the disease burden and need for cures.

He saw good potential for the use of cord blood and foetal cells as sources for stem cells, due to the high numbers of deliveries and abortions in the country.

It was time to set up banks that can harvest stem cells from these sources, under regulatory guidelines.

With their ability to continuously divide and transform into various tissues and grow into organs, stem cells have emerged as one of the most fascinating areas of modern biology.

Shortage of organs for transplant, incurable diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's etc. and the need for drug research without relying on animals, is driving the field of stem cells, he added.

Earlier, Dr Lalji Singh, Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, in his address suggested that therapeutic cloning should be allowed in the country for it offers tremendous benefits to the people.