Unregulated stem cell clinics are proliferating throughout the U.S. A case in point is the Cell Surgical Network (CSN), which has grown over the last two years to encompass 42 independent centers that offer to inject patients’ own stem cells back into their bodies in an effort to treat any of more than 30 different diseases and injuries.
Affiliate members of the network, which now spans 22 U.S. states, claim their therapies involve minimal manipulation of a person’s own tissue—specifically, the adipose-derived stromal vascular fraction (SVF), a soup of mesenchymal stem cells and other cell populations found in fat—all isolated in a closed, sterile procedure. This surgical procedure, the CSN maintains, falls outside the regulatory authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But Leigh Turner disagrees.
Read the full, original story: Letter campaign sought to pressure FDA action on stem cell clinics
