The Hindu : National : ICMR draft ethics soon on assisted conception

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 06, 2005

National

National

ICMR draft ethics soon on assisted conception

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, APRIL 5. Semen donors may soon get paid at sperm banks. The Indian Council of Medical Research's draft proposal on the code of practice and ethical guidelines governing Assisted Reproductive Technologies clinics has suggested for the first time that semen donors be compensated by clinics.

The ethical issue of paying individuals for donating semen, or for donating organs was raised by Sangeetha Udgaonkar, an Intellectual Property Rights consultant, during a debate on involving the ethics of stem cell research at the Indo-U.K. workshop in the area.

The practice of payment, Ms. Udgaonkar and others feel, can lead to the exploitation of the weaker sections of society. But more importantly, they fear that it can later be expanded to cover blood donations and other organ donations.

K. Vijayraghavan, Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, said payment for semen donation was permissible if taken in the right context. "Are you going to ask people to come and donate the semen at their own cost? Is it wrong to pay for their travel and reimburse the money they would have lost by not going to work that day," he asked.

He said policies governing research, sperm and oocyte donations must be made more broadbased with governing agencies such as the ICMR and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) being vested with powers to review research in these areas.

At present, stem cell research in India is governed by guidelines issued by the ICMR and DBT only if the institution gets funding from either of the two agencies. "There is no law on stem cell research and we have no way of knowing how private institutions will work," said L. Balasubramaniam, head of the National Task Force on Stem Cell Research.

The ICMR and DBT are working on developing a joint policy on gene therapy and stem cell research again limited to institutions that draw funds from them. The policy is still in its preliminary stages. "We think of legislation only much later," said Alka Sharma, Principal Scientific Officer of DBT, New Delhi.

John Martin of the Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine, University College, London, said India should develop a stem cell law that did not restrict commercial activity but which could be applied across the board.

Dr. Martin said sick people sometimes did not want to listen to all the options but wanted doctors to decide what was best for that individual. "Can we then go ahead with stem cell therapies assuming that the patient has agreed," he asked.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National