PostHole
Compose
Login
Stem cell hard sell
Stem cells are cells with superpowers. They can become many different types of cells in our bodies, from muscle cells to brain cells, and some can even repair tissue. But the remarkable promise of this exciting new field of medicine has led to a new booming market of private clinics, which offer to treat a range of conditions (from arthritis to autism) using regenerative therapies which they claim harness the healing powers of stem cells. In this first of two programmes, Lesley Curwen investigates this expanding industry in the UK and Europe and discovers that these treatments are often unproven, unregulated and can cause harm.
She reports on disturbing cases of UK patients who have suffered infection, blood clots and even sight loss and hears from orthopaedic surgeons concerned that these so called stem cell therapies are jumping ahead of the science. And Lesley finds out how these procedures, which often cost thousands of dollars for each treatment, are operating under a loophole in EU Directives which govern the law in this area. There’s an exemption and the actual stem cell material being injected into you, may not be regulated at all.
Picture: Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can specialized through mitosis to many other cell types of multicellular organisms, Credit: selvanegra/Getty Images
Accessibility links
BBC World Service
Discovery
- Discovery Home
- Episodes
- Galleries
- Podcast
- Join us on Facebook
Main content
Listen now
Stem cell hard sell
Discovery
Business is booming for stem cell clinics in Europe but has stem cell hype jumped ahead of the science
Stem cells are cells with superpowers. They can become many different types of cells in our bodies, from muscle cells to brain cells, and some can even repair tissue. But the remarkable promise of this exciting new field of medicine has led to a new booming market of private clinics, which offer to treat a range of conditions (from arthritis to autism) using regenerative therapies which they claim harness the healing powers of stem cells. In this first of two programmes, Lesley Curwen investigates this expanding industry in the UK and Europe and discovers that these treatments are often unproven, unregulated and can cause harm.
She reports on disturbing cases of UK patients who have suffered infection, blood clots and even sight loss and hears from orthopaedic surgeons concerned that these so called stem cell therapies are jumping ahead of the science. And Lesley finds out how these procedures, which often cost thousands of dollars for each treatment, are operating under a loophole in EU Directives which govern the law in this area. There’s an exemption and the actual stem cell material being injected into you, may not be regulated at all.
Picture: Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can specialized through mitosis to many other cell types of multicellular organisms, Credit: selvanegra/Getty Images
###
####
Higher quality (128kbps)
Lower quality (64kbps)
Available now
27 minutes
Last on
Mon 10 Feb 2020
00:32GMT
BBC World Service except South Asia
More episodes
Previous
Next
See all episodes from Discovery
Broadcasts
Mon 3 Feb 2020
20:32GMT
BBC World Service Australasia, Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
Mon 3 Feb 2020
21:32GMT
BBC World Service News Internet & East Asia only
Tue 4 Feb 2020
05:32GMT
BBC World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
Space
The eclipses, spacecraft and astronauts changing our view of the Universe
The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry
[The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry]
A pair of scientific sleuths answer your perplexing questions. Ask them anything!
Podcast
Discovery
Explorations in the world of science.
Similar programmes
By genre:
- Factual > Science & Nature
By format:
Magazines & Reviews
[BBC World Service homepage]
News in more than 40 languages