In the latest British Medical Journal, Bob Roehr quoted Irving Weissman, the Stanford University researcher and president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research society as saying that the society launched a patient education website "to smoke out the charlatans" who prey upon desperately ill people and their families(BMJ 2010;340:c3271. This is a step in the right direction.
Dr Weissman, clarified that probably no other society has ever done this before. He was addressing the opening of their annual meeting on 16 June, in San Francisco.
Deveoloping countries are the preferred havens for the charlatans to prey on the gullible patients.
Bob Roehr argued that the problem is large and growing. He revealed that a recent web search identified more than 200 practitioners or clinics making claims for stem cell cures;, they thrive in developing countries obviously because regulatory oversight is weak in such countries. It is unbelievable that a clinic in China claimed to have treated over 8000 people, generating over $200m (£137m; 165m) in revenue.
It is difficult to arrest these activities. The scoiety felt that basic education about stem cells may help.The society’s new website, www.closerlookatstemcells.org, offers such material. According to the website a reputable clinical trial will have a body of scientific literature behind it; will be scrutinised by an independent review board; and will have the approval of the relevant national regulatory authorities. And it will not charge for participating in the trial.
The website allows a person to submit the name of a clinic for review. The society will then ask the clinic for documentation on ethical and regulatory review of the proposed treatment. That information will form a publicly available online database. It is not clear why a crook who is cashing on the misery of a victim should cooperate for such a review.
Bob Roehr quotes the case of a farmer who spent $80,000 for a stem cell "cure" for multiple sclerosis. An instance Dr Weissman found out while he gave a lecture in his home town, Great Falls, Montana, his hometown with a population of a little over 50 000. It is a pity that people mortgage their homes desperately seeking a cure where there is none.
The service offered by the society is laudable.Jeanne F Loring from the Scripps Research Institute a speker at th emeeting highlighted other issues. She pointed ouyt that patient testimonials are a hallmark of these operations. You will not see is any scientific evidence. There will be no guarantee that you will be helped by that treatment. Lastly,there are no guarantees that you won’t be harmed.
Clinics may use inappropriate treatment. According to the researcher, these clinics often use cord blood or placental cells, which may not be appropriate for the intended use. They may use cells derived from animals, or inject cell solutions that are tainted with other products.
Dr Loring suggested that if patients could procure a sample of the cells that are going to be injected, freeze them, and send them to her, she will analyse it for free and tell you what those stem cells are. This is indeed a generous offer.She can be contacted at jloring@scripps.edu
Regrettably, reporters of some popular newspapers in India unwittingly publicize the magic cures. They do not know the damage they are doing. They must resist the temptation; publish only those cures only if they appear in peer reviewed literature.
No comments:
Post a Comment