Stem cell quackery

An excellent article (1) by Sunil K Pandya on the use and misuse of stem cell therapy due to lack of legislation.

China and Korea have relaxed laws on this. I was surprised to read on the Internet that more than 50 per cent of patients in China in hospital for stem cell therapy are from the United States or countries in the European Union. In fact, there are agencies in Delhi arranging for stem cell treatment in China for patients willing to go over there. On the positive side, I met three patients who had come back from China after therapy, and who feel much better and they say they would recommend it to other patients too.

All is not lost in India. All that we require is stringent laws governing the use of stem cells. Guidelines cannot replace legislation. We have enough resources for stem cell therapy in India and if properly governed we can do wonders for our patients. If not, quackery will take over in the garb of clinical trials.