Minister of Health Senator Dr. Marcus Bethel on Thursday said the discovery of stem cell work being carried out at the IAT Immunology Research Centre in Freeport points to a need for legislation to govern such research in the Bahamas.
ﾓInsofar as the Bahamas is concerned, clearly this incident along with our global commitments act as a stimulus for us to bring about a consideration of legislation governing the whole process of research, and stem cell research in particular,ﾒ he said.
Dr. Bethel made the statement after telling reporters during a press conference at the Ministry of Health in Nassau that the Centre failed to adhere to current Ministry guidelines with regard to conducting medical research.
The call to enact legislation was also made by some local and medical professionals who spoke to the Bahama Journal last week on the stem cell issue at IAT.
Dr. Paul Ward, consultant obstetrician at the Rand Memorial Hospital, said all governments need to enact stem cell legislation, so that society can benefit from the research and not be abused by it.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Health issued an order suspending stem cell treatments and research at the Centre.
The Ministry launched a probe into the local clinic following a Bahama Journal investigative series unearthed details regarding the stem cell work and practices there.
While acknowledging the merit stem cell research may have, Dr. Bethel pointed out that persons wanting to conduct research must first submit an application to the Ministry of Health inclusive of a proposal of the specific research to be considered.
ﾓThis information once in hand would then be forwarded to the ethics committee within the Ministry of Health for its review and recommendations,ﾒ he said.
Dr. John Clement, medical director at IAT, spoke exclusively with the Journal on the treatments carried out at his Freeport clinic and said he had been conducting stem cell treatments with cells drawn from the umbilical cords of mothers at the Rand Memorial Hospital.
The Centre has given stem cell treatments to at least four American children, one of whom is a five-year-old Michigan girl who suffers from a rare and severe neurological defect.
The others, according to the physician, suffer from Cerebral Palsy.
Dr. Clement said ﾓlicensed scientistsﾒ were growing stem cells at the facility for use in the treatments, although he did not mention their identities or credentials.
Dr. Bethel pointed out that since the Bahamas is a signatory to international health conventions, authorized medical research would have to be carried out by properly trained and recognized scientists from recognized research institutions.
Although the stem cell controversy is new to the Bahamas, controversy regarding IATﾴs history of medical practices is not.
The Centre primarily provides Immuno-Augmentative Therapy (IAT) to terminal cancer patients, an experimental treatment that, like stem cell treatments, is not permitted in the United States.
U.S regulatory bodies have posted reports indicating that the Centreﾴs cancer treatment practices posed health hazards during the 1980ﾴs.
Dr. Bethel confirmed that the Ministry of Health has had to review IAT treatments at the Centre because those treatments are ﾓsomewhat alienﾒ and the theory behind them was questionable.
Similar sentiments were expressed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society in reports posted by the agencies over the past 20 years.
Dr. Clement, however, defended the treatments, pointing out that conventional cancer treatments ﾓhavenﾴt improved the cure rates of cancer in over 50 years.ﾒ
The Centre claims to have treated over 5,500 cancer patients with IAT since its inception in 1977.
The cancer and stem cell treatments administered at IAT have raised concerns that the Bahamas is being seen as a place where persons can come and receive medical treatments that are not approved by most developed countries or endorsed by international health conventions.
Dr. Bethel moved quickly to attempt to allay those concerns.
ﾓThe Ministry has acted over the many years that I have been a practicing physician, some 30 years,ﾒ he said, ﾓand has sent the message far and wide that the Bahamas is not a playground for research that is not approved.ﾒ
He pointed out that the Health Facilities Council has been given the mandate of ensuring that stem cell work at the Centre has in fact been suspended.
Dr. Bethel did not rule out the possibility of lifting the suspension, should the research at the Centre conform to the international conventions to which the Bahamas ascribes.
Sharon Williams, The Bahama Journal
