Over the past year the FDA and FBI have stepped up their actions related to sellers of dubious stem cell treatments.
Most recently we have seen arrests of “Drs.” Morales and Stowe as well as others.
Mr. Stowe, who is not a medical doctor, remains a fugitive of the FBI.
Has the FBI now effectively fully taken care of business and taken action against all of those trying to make money off of non-FDA approved stem cell treatments?
If only. There are many more out there.
In fact there are a lot of dubious clinics out there right here in the U.S. as well as facilitators who are collecting money for hooking up patients with treatment centers. Outside the U.S. such clinics number in the hundreds at least.
Many patients considering stem cell treatments read this blog and I have many times asked them to use extreme care when considering such a treatment. And for that I have at times been personally attacked on the Internet.
FYI, you can read my Patients Guide to Stem Cell Treatments here and also my Top 10 List of Facts For Patients Considering Stem Cell Treatments.
Also, many of the stem cell clinics and their associates read this blog and are not happy with me for my posts. My message to them at this point?
Now would be a very good time for you to shutdown your operations to avoid prosecution and potential federal prison time. The FBI is probably on your trail already. Even though you can’t erase your past “sins”, if you close up shop now you may avoid arrest.
Time’s a wastin.
Paul – great work tackling this important issue. Morales was among the worst, but as you note, there are many more like him. Getting negative feedback is inevitable – there are many people with deeply held beliefs about the medical efficacy of these unproven (and often impauslible) treatments, just as there are staunch and emotionally committed advocates of the healing power of televangelists, crystal therapy and psychic surgery. And then there are the shills… It can be hard to tell which is which sometimes, as it is a comon tactic for shills to pretend they are true believers. Anyway, it’s great that a real scientist from the field is taking the time to blog abotu the big issues in stem cell science!
Thanks, Doug. My goal with these posts is to help patients make the most informed and safest decisions about potential stem cell treatments that might be out there. As you know, I have no financial interests in trying to sell anyone anything, whereas others do indeed have ulterior motives in the form of trying to make money from vulnerable, potential patients and their families. It is great to see your website out there (readers–check out http://sctmonitor.blogspot.com/ ) as a wonderful resource and also to see the FBI taking action.
Why are you writing this bad stuff about people who are the ones actually helping patients?? The FDA and you are the problems. Of course as an embryo stem cell researcher you feel threatened by these adult stem cell clinics whose treatments actually work. XXXXXXXX (Note, this comment was edited for derogatory content)