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Prof Alan Mackay-Sim warns against stem cell tourism
11 Jan 2012
Professor Mackay-Sim recently visited Vellore, India and was interviewed (via email) about his work the current state of stem cell research for treating people with spinal cord injury.
"There are no stem cell treatments in the world today that have been fully tested in all stages of clinical trials. Part of the process of clinical trials is to report the outcomes and open them to public scrutiny for others to judge.
Yet ‘treatments' using stem cells for persons with SCI are taking place in several countries, including China, Russia, Brazil and India.
Such treatments are not based on scientifically proven evidence that stem cells make a difference, partially or wholly, which means risks and benefits remain unproven."