Stem cell beauty scams(2)

Dangerous experiments

In various online forums devoted to these treatments, hundreds of people express their curiosity and willingness to try the techniques, while others share their experiences.

This is despite the fact that not a single facility in China has approval to conduct any stem cell cosmetics surgery or use related products.

Public health authorities initiated a campaign last year to ask all medical research institutes to review their stem cell research programs and file reports, and halted approval of any new applications until July 2012, in order to regulate the chaotic market.

"The only approved clinical stem cell therapy available now is using hematopoietic stem cells to treat blood diseases. Other therapies are in experimental stages and not ready for  use, certainly not for plastic surgery or cosmetics," said Han Zhongchao, director of the National Engineering Research Center of Cell Products.

Classified as "category 3" medical technologies in a 2009 national regulation, stem cell treatments are considered risky and "ethically problematic." The regulation said they are developing rapidly but still have a long way before wide clinical use.

For almost all private beauty clinics, stem cell injections are purely a commercial gimmick as the whole collection, extraction and production process requires a strict clinical environment, expensive equipment and mature techniques using licensed doctors - none of which they have, said Chen Yuanliang, a plastic surgeon with the First Affiliated Hospital of Clinical Medicine at Guangdong Pharmaceutical University.

"The technology is indeed magical in that it can attract so many people, but not mature, and customers have no way of knowing what they're really being injected with, which can cause further diseases," Chen told the Global Times, adding that it allows unscrupulous providers to boost their profits.

Regulatory gray zone

The latest regulation draft for stem cell clinical experiments by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which has strict protocols and approval procedures, has been collecting suggestions since March. However, it still has many loopholes as responsibilities are scattered over multiple departments.

An official with the Public Health Bureau of Haidian district in Beijing told the Global Times that private beauty salons are not clinical institutes, so the bureau doesn't regulate them, while the food and drug administration supervises drug safety.

Xu said Tianyongcheng hospital halted stem cell injections this year following the ban, but many institutes are still doing it as no one came to supervise their projects. For example, popular anti-aging platelet-rich plasma injections have been promoted as stem cell treatments to customers who are unfamiliar with scientific terms, or using ADSCs mixed with autologous fat for breast implants.

The use of ADSCs in plastic surgery, is occurring in some top-level public hospitals, despite the fact that it is unapproved, even when mixed with other substances.

"Stem cells are cultured in vitro, which is highly risky, any re-injection of them into the human body is experimental and not allowed for clinical use; however, the regulation has no written rules regarding that," a plastic surgeon surnamed He with the Plastic Surgery Hospital under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences told the Global Times.

"The technique needs support in order to develop, but detailed supervision over those experimental applications, especially regarding sources of stem cells, quality and medical ethics, should be subject to national standards and strict approvals," said Han.