ICMR guidelines on stem cell research soon

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is set to come out with guidelines for stem cell research in two weeks.

The guidelines are expected to have a negative list of around 10 items in which research would be prohibited. Besides, outlining areas in which research is permitted, detailed regulatory and technical guidelines would also be laid out.

The research wing of ministry of health & family welfare is also going to reduce the time taken for approvals in cord and adult stem cell research.

"These two areas would be decentralised at the institutional level to reduce the bureaucratic hurdles. The ethics committee within each institution can look into it and would be required to report to ICMR," said an ICMR official.

However, for embryonic stem cell research, the National Apex Committee would scan every proposal. "This is so because we want to know how the embryos are procured, what's the procedure etc. This is the area that is most vulnerable to abuse", added the official.

The team of experts are meeting in January-end to finalise the guidelines.

In 2002, draft guidelines were issued that ICMR should be the regulatory authority for biological research and a National Apex Committee for cell-based research & therapy should be set up.

The latter should be vested with powers to examine scientific, technical, ethical, legal and social issues in all the three types of stem cell.