China’s stem-cell rules go unheeded

Published in the journal Nature is a report on the unapproved stem-cell treatments and clinics in China. The author David Cyranoski writes that the stem cell trade in China is still quite prevalent despite stronger regulation by the Chinese health ministry.


Health ministry’s attempt at regulation has had little effect.

• David Cyranoski

11 April 2012

Source Nature

 

Three months after the Chinese health ministry ramped up its efforts to enforce a ban on the clinical use of unapproved stem-cell treatments, a Nature investigation reveals that businesses around the country are still charging patients thousands of dollars for these unproven therapies.

The clinics operate openly, with websites promoting the treatments for serious disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and autism, and attract thousands of medical tourists from overseas. They advertise case studies of individual patients who they say have benefited from the treatments, and some have clinics in major hospital complexes, giving them an air of mainstream acceptance. Stem-cell experts contacted by Nature insist that such therapies are not ready for the clinic and say that some may even endanger patients’ health. But the Chinese government is struggling to enforce its ban.

Continue reading at Nature

Journal name:

Nature

Volume:

484,

Pages:

149–150

Date published:

(12 April 2012)

DOI:

doi:10.1038/484149a

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