The much-awaited guidelines on stem cell research, which would cover all ethical issues involved in the research, are almost ready to be submitted to the drug controller general of India for final approval.
"Once these [guidelines] are available, people will have a rule book to follow when they do stem cell research and related therapy," Indian Council for Medical Research Director General N K Ganguly told PTI.
"The guidelines would cover all ethical issues," he said.
At the moment, institutes doing stem cell research and therapy are using unaltered cells of patients. A person's cells are taken and injected back, he said.
So the ethical issues are not that critical at the moment provided there is a scientific review internally of such research, organisations are capable of monitoring results ethically and have infrastructure to look into the safety of subjects, he said.
"We have also planned a major international meet in September this year in Mumbai to get in latest technology and [for] interaction on stem cell research," Ganguly said.
The issue was also discussed during the Science Congress and its major recommendations are being followed up, he said.
ICMR and the Department of Biotechnology will shortly meet to examine the issues concerning stem cell research and to discuss how best the new therapy can be promoted, he said.
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