Over 1,500 clinics are selling unapproved and unproven stem cell therapies.
This image shows pancreatic cancer cells (blue) growing, encased within membranes (red).
Min Yu/Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC via NIH/Flickr
Huanhuan Joyce Chen, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Abhimanyu Thakur, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Many tumors have cancer stem cells that help them grow and evade treatments. Differentiation therapy forces these cells to mature, stopping growth with less toxicity than traditional treatments.
Tobias Deuse, University of California, San Francisco
The idea behind regenerative medicine is that the patient is both the donor and recipient of healthy tissue grown from stem cells. But sometimes the transplanted cells are rejected. Now we know why.
An X-ray of both knees reveals a narrow space between joints caused by loss of cartilage.
Puwadol Jaturawutthichai/Shutterstock.com
When it comes to seeking out stem cell treatments for joint injuries, buyer beware. These so-called miracle treatments are often scams, so it vital for patients to discuss options with a physician.
All multiple sclerosis sufferers have stem cells with the potential to heal them, but scientists are only just figuring out how to kick them into action.
When it comes to stem cells, the ways that informed consent has been obtained in the past are not sufficient and improvements are needed.
Empty sample tubes wait to be filled in a blood and urine sample freezer. South Africa has no legislation governing biobanks that deal with human biological material.
Reuters/Phil Noble
Ames Dhai, University of the Witwatersrand and Safia Mahomed, University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa has no legislation setting out the rules for biobanks and the guidelines that do exist are not clear or detailed. This leaves the door wide open for unethical practises.
Although safe bone marrow harvesting has taken place in South Africa for more than 50 years, there are many unproven stem cell treatments on offer.
shutterstock
Unless the South African government tightens its laws that govern stem cell treatments, unproven stem cell therapy will continue to surge.
Demonstrators dressed as embryos gather outside the French parliament to protest laws authorising research on embryonic stem cells. Across the world, countries are implementing additional laws to use treatments that are still in trial phases.
Reuters/Benoit Tessier
Many countries are introducing legislation and allowing practitioners to use medication still undergoing trials but that show preliminary signs of being safe, including some stem cell treatments.
Legislation in South Africa needs to be updated to accommodate the development in stem cell research and therapies.
Reuters
South Africa may have legislation broadly guiding stem cell research and treatment, but these laws must be updated and clarified for it to be effective.
Stem cell research and therapy have become buzzwords across the globe. Although some of the treatments are controversial and unsafe, there is also a great deal of excitement and promise.
Once thought to be a problem only in poorly regulated jurisdictions overseas, unproven stem cell treatments are increasingly being offered in Australia. Now, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA…
Tourism isn’t just for sunshine and beaches. It can also be for unapproved medical interventions.
IV via ARZTSAMUI/Shutterstock
Medical tourism is the practice of seeking medical care across international borders. Countries with established medical sectors like the US, Europe, India and Thailand have been traditional destinations…
It’s still early days for cell therapy.
Michael Dorausch/Flickr
You might have heard about Darek Fidyka, the paralysed man from Poland who recently walked again after an experimental cell transplant. It made headlines around the world and raised the hopes of many people…
Hope, faith and miracle are the operative words when it comes to stem cell tourism.
pol sifter/Flickr
Stem cell tourism is when people travel to another country to receive treatments unavailable to them at home. It exists chiefly because most stem cell “treatments” are unproven and not readily available…
Professor - Emerging Technologies (Stem Cells) at The University of Melbourne and Group Leader - Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne