India to hold international meeting on stem cell research

India has planned a major international meeting in September this year in Mumbai to get in latest technology and interaction on stem cell research from the scientific community.

This was announced by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General N K Ganguly here on Wednesday.

Ganguly also informed that the much-awaited guidelines on stem cell research, which would cover all the ethical issues, are ready to be submitted to the Drug Controller General of India for final approval.

"The draft guidelines on stem cell research in the country are almost ready to be submitted to the Drug Controller for final approval. Once these are available, people will have a rule book to follow when they do stem cell research and related therapy," he said.

On the question whether any legislation was being enacted, Ganguly said that making law was government's responsibly.

Ganguly, however, said that the guidelines would cover all the ethical issues and that once they are accepted, then for any therapy, there will be a system which will get into place.

According to Ganguly, the ethical issues are not that critical at the moment provided there is a scientific review of the things internally and the capability of the organization to monitor results ethically and have infrastructure to look into the safety of subjects.

Source: Xinhua