by Denis Campbell – The Observer, Sunday 5 September 2010
Health tourists travel the world and spend thousands, but their hopes of being cured are likely to be dashed
For the past decade stem cells have sparked huge excitement among scientists, dramatic media coverage about breakthroughs that could mean a cure for some of the nastiest diseases, and hope – sometimes desperate – among patients that the reality will match the hype. That has fuelled a booming trade in stem cell tourism – people heading to clinics abroad and forking out large sums for what are called stem cell treatments but which are unlikely to work and possibly do harm.
It is, as some of the UK’s leading stem cells experts warned last week, a world of unproven therapies, patient optimism and predatory clinicians. Despite the lack of reliable evidence underpinning the treatments being offered, the number of people resorting to stem cell tourism is growing. Experts voiced their fears and frustrations after finding that many patients, often desperately ill, were asking their advice on whether to travel overseas.
“I’ve made some very strong comments which could potentially land me in court, but people still go to these clinics,” said Professor Peter Coffey, director of the London Project to Cure Blindness at University College London. There are now several hundred clinics around the world which claim to have turned the potential of stem cells into effective treatments. They lure those suffering from diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart failure,Parkinson’s disease, autism, HIV, eye problems, spinal cord injuries and much else besides.
Several thousand people from around the world so far are estimated to have spent up to £20,000 or more in such places. Yet while stem cells could transform medicine, there is as yet scant actual proof of their efficacy. But still the tourists come.
Continue Reading from the Guardian.co.UK
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