Chinese, European Medical Experts Call For Global Ban On Unproven Stem Cell Treatments
A group of Chinese and European doctors, lawyers and bioethicists has called on countries around the world to ban unproven and potentially unsafe stem cell treatments. The group, known as Bionet, says patients “subjected to a huge amount of hype” and desperate for stem cell treatments are wasting thousands of dollars traveling abroad. A team of Bionet investigators that visited stem cell clinics in China and India said that “stem cell research was being moved too rapidly into clinical practice without proper study.” About 150 clinics in China offer unproven stem cell treatments at an average cost of US$25,000. China recently proposed new guidelines calling for clinical trials of treatments before they are used therapeutically.
“Safety call over stem cell trips”, September 3, 2009, © BBC
Warnings like this will not stop the expenditure of thousands of dollars by patients and their families. I just wish real, scientifically-tested treatments would move more rapidly into clinics, so people wouldn’t have to subject themselves to these money-grubbing quacks.