Consumer Guide To Stem Cell Clinics

Penguinsh- writes "Patients seeking stem cell treatments now have a guide to the various clinics purporting to offer such treatments. Not exactly a Zagat or Michelin, but much more objective information from qualified experts than was available before in one place. Created by the International Society for Stem Cell Research, the guide was the brainchild of a task force convened by former ISSCR President Irving Weissman of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine."

Comments

Review of said guide

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, your consumer guide fails to take into account the fact that many (all?) of these clinics' customers have no alternative except death.

Re:Review of said guide

[MadKeithV]

Being terminal might be an excuse for taking additional risks, but most (if not all) of the current "stem cell treatments" are just unfounded snake-oil designed to prey on desperate people, with not a single good reason to believe there is any chance it will make you better rather than worse. They might as well go for homeopathy or faith healing, except that those do NOT carry a risk of actually making things worse.

Re:Review of said guide

[Cryacin]

Mate,

If I had a kid who had a nasty and currently incurable disease, I'd most certainly risk jail, or even death myself to give them a shot. After it gets to the point of death, all bets are off. Seriously. How far would you go for someone you loved?

In this case, at least it brings some semblence of regulation to an industry that has arisen from an environment born from holier than thou moral beliefs infiltrating politics, rather than hard science.