Stem Cell pro or con.... Big Pharma

http://copd.about.com/b/2010/07/10/considering-stem-cell-treatment-for-copd-check-this-out.htm
Excerpt:

Considering Stem Cell Treatment for COPD? Read This First

By Deborah Leader, RN, About.com Guide   July 10, 2010

A couple of months ago, I was watching an episode of 60 Minutes entitled 21st Century Snakeoil and watched in horror as the program captured con-men preying on dying victims by offering them the hope and promise of stem cell treatment, all the while robbing them out of their life savings.  This episode really hit home with me as I know many of you have considered this type of alternative treatment for your own disease.

If you've done any research on the subject, you too, have undoubtedly received some confusing messages that range from extraordinary to outrageous .  But, are the claims of cure that stem cell therapy promise really legitimate, or as 60 Minutes implies, highly organized scams designed to deceive the desperate in an effort to drain their bank accounts?
In light of the recent cloud that is hovering over stem cell therapy, a new website has been developed in an effort to provide patients with information. The International Society for Stem Cell  Research (ISSCR) offers tools to assist patients as they consider a clinic or treatment for stem cell therapy. ISSCR is an independent, non-profit organization that claims to help you evaluate stem cell treatment centers to determine if the treatment they offer is safe and effective.
From questions to ask to the top 10 things you should know about stem cell treatment, this website claims to have it all. They even have a patient handbook and will allow you to submit a clinic that is questionable for review. For more information, visit the ISSCR Website.
Not everyone, however, believes that ISSCR is out for the good of all patients seeking stem cell treatment. In fact, many believe that they have their own agenda, and are in bed with Big Pharma. Understanding both sides is important for patients who want to make an informed decision of whether or not stem cell treatment is for them.
If you want to take a peek at the darker side of ISSCR, read the comments following this post. And, don't forget to leave one of your own. Also, for a personal, stem cell therapy success story, don't miss my Interview with Stem Cell Treatment Pioneer, Barbara Hanson.


July 10, 2010 at 7:37 pm

(1) Barbara Hanson  says :

Please share the other side of the story with your readers. The ISSCR is a Big Pharma backed organization with an agenda that includes a global FDA. Patients should be aware that the ICMS has published up to date safe off shore guidelines as well. The ICMS is also non profit and is made up of doctors, patients and other professionals. Dr. Irving Weissman is at the forefront of the ISSCR’s campaign. He has special interests of his own which include ties to stem cell companies, research work that has made him a multi millionaire and of course he wants to protect all of that at the expense of patient’s freedom of choice. If stem cell treatment is snake oil, then Dr. Weissman and his cohorts have a lot of explaining to do as to why they are so heavily involved in it. Patients who have had successful therapy need to start speaking out to combat the misleading information that the ISSCR and some media are putting out. You can do your own investigation to see the conflicts of interest, Big Pharma ties, etc. that the ISSCR is enveloped in. Most of the information is available on the internet.

July 10, 2010 at 8:29 pm

(2) Michel Beaudet  says :

Funny how all the stem cell clinics that, for outrageously large amounts of money, promise to cure or treat incurable diseases are all situated in countries where there’s no government based medical watchdog agency. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF6XQPKawwk

July 11, 2010 at 2:16 am

(3) Barbara Hanson  says :

Michael – I do not disagree that there are some disreputable clinics out there. My advice would be to run as fast as you can from any clinic that promised a cure. I have to disagree with you however in that many clinics are conducting clinical trials under the guidance of regulatory agencies in their own countries. Many television programs are geared towards the sensational. Bad news stories reel in big audiences. In case anyone should forget, stem cell therapy has been successfully used in the U.S. for over 50 years. Hardly, snake oil, but not a story the media feels would supply them with the audience they need for their ratings.

July 11, 2010 at 6:54 am

(4) Don Margolis  says :

Thank goodness for people like Barbara. Deborah’s article is typical of those people paid by Big Medicine to protect its obscene profits–full of lies and misinformation. First–CBS did NOT show con-men. It searched the world, found dozens of honest stem cell providers and ONE con man. Since CBS has to bow to Big Medicine or lose billions in advertising drugs, it did. I know because I spoke with those who foolishly spoke to them and were never quoted. Second—No honest stem cell provider, Deborah, EVER promised a cure for anything–only you and 60Minutes say they do. Third—60Minutes is the fraud, not stem cells, or perhaps you are not allowed to tell your readers that they were exposed as choosing money over people in the 1996 movie “The Insider.” Russel Crowe, Denzel Washington and Al Pacino made it clear who and what 60Minutes really is. Fourth—ISSCR was created by Big Medicine for one reason: To keep the greatest medicine ever laid at the feet of humankind from leaving the lab and getting into the clinic where it would destroy the $300million DAILY profits of a system which is not allowed to cure any chronic disease. Perhaps you haven’t noticed that not one chronic disease has been conquered since Salk and Sabin kayoed polio sixty years ago. After all, cures are very unprofitable!

 21st Century Snakeoil

September 15, 2010 8:03 PM

21st Century Snake Oil

By

CBSNews

Watch the Segment »

(CBS)  Con men used to travel town to town hawking medical remedies said to be made of Chinese snakes. Snake oil was useless and dangerous. So the FDA was created to put a stop to it and other food and drug scams.

But, today, quack medicine has never been bigger. In the 21st century, snake oil has been replaced by bogus therapies using stem cells. Stem cells may offer cures one day, but medical charlatans on the Internet are making outrageous claims that they can reverse the incurable, from autism to multiple sclerosis to every kind of cancer.

Desperate people are being bilked out of their life's savings.

We've been looking into this surging crime and we found there is no better window on how it works than the practice of a man who calls himself "doctor," a man named Lawrence Stowe.

Stowe has been unaware that, lately, some of his patients have been working with 60 Minutes.

Full Segment: 21st Century Snake Oil Part 1
Full Segment: 21st Century Snake Oil Part 2
Web Extra: The Promise of Stem Cell Treatment
Web Extra: A Warning About Stem Cell Fraud
Web Extra: Living with Lou Gehrig's Disease