The State Department issues travel warnings for countries that are risky for US tourists. Maybe we need travel warnings of a different kind: for stem cell tourism. Recently, CNN featured the story of a 6-year- old boy named Cash whose parents took him to India for experimental stem cell injections. Cash has a rare genetic disease that made him unable to talk, and requiring braces to walk. After the treatment, Cash began walking without braces for the first time, which his parents’ attribute to his stem cell treatment.[1]
Cash’s story made waves, but not because unethical embryonic stem cells were used. His treatment was unregulated, which means it is not monitored by a research or government agency such as the FDA. Reputable doctors and scientists of all ethical viewpoints agree that the marketing and use of unregulated stem cell treatments is the wrong way of going about stem cell research. Unfortunately, stem cell tourists ignore the warnings, visiting private clinics in places such as India, Germany and Israel.
What is the evidence of success from these treatments? Only patient testimonials. Very few clinics offer any form of reliable evidence, such as peer-reviewed clinical trials to support their dubious claims. Their promises of “rapid recovery” prey on the desperation of the seriously ill, leading to charges that they’re selling “high tech snake oil.” Desperate parents and patients spend anywhere from $5,000 to $40,000 dollars for these risky treatments.
Where embryonic stem cells are not used, the most significant concern about these experimental treatments is patient safety. Even well proven stem cell therapies can result in tumor formation, immune rejection, disability, or even death. These unregulated clinics are not required to report bad outcomes. Occasionally a report surfaces, like the nine-year-old boy who developed brain tumors after a fetal stem cell transplant in Russia.[2] There are no guarantees of the purity of the cells, or that each dosage is the same. When the family returns home from abroad, there is no follow-up for potential complications.
Meanwhile, there are legitimate clinical trials of ethical stem cell therapies being conducted in the US and abroad. That’s where success is substantiated. Of course we sympathize with these little patients and their parents who try these questionable treatments as a “last resort.” Unfortunately, scientists have yet to prove the golden promise of embryonic stem cells’ curative powers. Michael J. Fox, a national advocate of embryonic stem cell research for Parkinson’s disease, recently made headlines when he admitted that a cure may not come from stem cells after all.[3] Unregulated treatments can be wrong on two counts: they might involve the intentional destruction of embryos and fetuses. Second, they don’t meet credible standards of safety and effectiveness. Don’t believe every stem cell tourism ad you read about a “miracle cure.” Many of them are selling hope, not healing.
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1 David Fitzpatrick and Drew Griffin, “Family Hangs on Hope for Boy on Unproven Therapy in India,” CNN, May 21, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/19/health/embryonic-stem-cell-therapy/index.html (accessed May 30, 2012).
2 N. Amariglio, A. Hirshberg, B.W. Scheithauer, et al., “Donor-Derived Brain Tumor Following Neural Stem Cell Transplantation in an Ataxia Telangiectasia Patient,” PLoS Medicine 6 (2009): e1000029.
3 Russell Goldman, “Michael J. Fox Looks Past Stem Cells in Search For Parkinson’s Cure,” ABC News, May 18, 2012, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/05/18/michael-j-fox-looks-past-stem-cells-in-search-for-parkinsons-cure/ (accessed May 30, 2012).