Stem Cell News Blog

A clampdown on unproven and potentially unsafe stem cell research is being called for by an expert group.

Bionet, a group of expert Chinese and European doctors, lawyers and bioethicists, says countries throughout the world must develop more effective regulation for this emerging science.

They say desperate patients are being subjected to a huge amount of hype when they travel abroad for treatments.

The only way to counter that is through proper clinical trials, they say.

Professor Nicholas Rose, from the London School of Economics, who led the group, said Bionet’s team had talked to physicians in China and Europe because China had now overtaken India as the place where pharmaceutical companies were carrying out most of their trials.

They had provided a wealth of anecdotal evidence about their concerns that stem cell research was being moved too rapidly into clinical practice without proper study.

He said: “The key is informed consent. Doctors should be able to tell the patient about the short-term and long-term prognosis and the things we don’t know about the risks.”