Turkey is in a parallel state to that of other countries for developments in stem cell research and practices. Nevertheless,
Turkish law has no regulations for stem cell practices. To define a legal framework for stem cell research, rules of general
content should be used as the starting point. In 2005 and 2006, a general regulation and guidelines on stem cell research
were published by Turkish Ministry of Health. Thus, the ministry, based on this first general regulation, stopped “Embryonic
Stem Cell Research”, while allowing “Adult Stem Cell Research” by a second general regulation. The method of such research
was regulated with the addendum of ‘Guidelines for Clinical Research on Non-embryonic stem Cell’. With the latest regulation,
clinical stem cell research in Turkey has been based on ‘Regulations for Clinical Research’, which was legislated in 2009.
However, the aforementioned regulations by the ministry are still legally binding. In addition, other regulations such as
Medical Deontology Regulations of 1960 and Patients’ Rights Regulations of 1998 are to be consulted for stem cell research
in Turkey. While it is especially important that research that is still at experimental level not provide an opportunity for
trade of hope in patients and their relatives, ethics discussions are enlightening in developing regulations and critical
evaluation of current practices.
Keywords Stem cell - Medical ethics - Legal regulations - Turkey