Click to play videoNew Delhi: US President Obama's decision to allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, after eight years of the Bush administration's policy, will have an impact on researchers world-wide.
Dr Madhuri Behari said, “Obama's decision is good for the people. It will be a tough competition for Indian scientists to keep up with their US counterparts.”
What exactly are stem cells? Under certain conditions they can become cells with special functions, like cells in the heart muscle, for example. It's an exciting field of research because of this, the hope that researchers can figure out a way to grow stem cells that can eventually treat diseases like heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease, even diabetes.
However, despite that, there is a great deal of controversy. The scientists work with two sorts of stem cells – embryonic stem cells that are grown in laboratories from human embryos and adult stem cells found in tissues, organs and bone marrow. Embryonic stem cells can last up to a year in a laboratory without differentiating as opposed to adult stem cells.
Dr Madhuri Behari says, stem cells comes from a foetus which is your own, it is closer to your own tissue, ethical issue comes in when somebody and uses those cells implanting in his own body. You are technically producing a child and killing it for your self.
What could possibly end this debate is that doctors world-wide and even at Vellore, Tamil Nadu are working on a way to make adult stem cells function like embryonic stem cells. They've worked on mouse cells, and have started work on human cells.
In New Delhi, doctors are working on human trials using stem cells on patients with Parkinson's Disease, and spinal injuries.
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