Aggregated News
"Are you making money from the media frenzy that surrounds stem cells?"
Stem-cell banking: lifeline or sub-prime?
The pitch, delivered in a high-energy online video, is aimed at would-be sellers of a "stem-cell enhancer" derived from cyanobacteria. But the question could just as easily be put to the crop of private stem-cell banks popping up around the United States.
Stem-cell banks offering to extract and store cells from embryos, menstrual blood, baby teeth and bone marrow are joining the more established umbilical cord blood banks in marketing directly to consumers with slick ads bearing a potent message: our services could save your life-for a considerable fee.
Most of these commercial cell banks are based on some peer-reviewed science and have collaborations with major biomedical institutions. But critics say that many tout breakthroughs that are irrelevant to their claims, gloss over weaknesses, blur distinctions and exaggerate competitors' flaws. In sum, stem-cell banking aimed at the private individual has vaulted into the marketplace before anyone knows whether the cells will be worth the plastic they're cryo-preserved in.
Contrary to many of their...
Stem-cell banking: lifeline or sub-prime?
The pitch, delivered in a high-energy online video, is aimed at would-be sellers of a "stem-cell enhancer" derived from cyanobacteria. But the question could just as easily be put to the crop of private stem-cell banks popping up around the United States.
Stem-cell banks offering to extract and store cells from embryos, menstrual blood, baby teeth and bone marrow are joining the more established umbilical cord blood banks in marketing directly to consumers with slick ads bearing a potent message: our services could save your life-for a considerable fee.
Most of these commercial cell banks are based on some peer-reviewed science and have collaborations with major biomedical institutions. But critics say that many tout breakthroughs that are irrelevant to their claims, gloss over weaknesses, blur distinctions and exaggerate competitors' flaws. In sum, stem-cell banking aimed at the private individual has vaulted into the marketplace before anyone knows whether the cells will be worth the plastic they're cryo-preserved in.
Contrary to many of their...