Stemming the stem cell banks?

Image via Wikipedia

US SCIENTISTS WARN OF STEM CELL FRAUD
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SAN DIEGO - Clinics that offer to "bank" stem cells from the umbilical cords of newborns for use later in life when illness strikes are fraudsters, a top scientist in the United States said on Saturday.

Clinics in many countries allow parents to deposit stem cells from their newborn's umbilical cord with a view to using the cells to cure major illnesses that could occur later in life.

In Thailand, for example, parents pay in the region of US$3,600 ($5,080) to make a deposit in a stem cell bank, thinking they are taking out a sort of health insurance for their child.

But Dr Irving Weissman, director of the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University in California, said the parents were being fleeced by the stem cell bankers.

"Umbilical cords contain blood-forming stem cells at a level that would maintain the blood-forming capacity of a very young child," Dr Weissman told reporters at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"They could also have derived mesenchymal cells - fiberglass-like cells that have a very limited capacity to make scar, bone, fat - but they don't make brain, they don't make blood, they don't make heart, they don't make skeletal muscle, despite what various people claim," he said.

Dr Weissman said these "unproven stem cell therapeutic clinicians" tend to set up shop in countries with poor medical regulations.

A check by AFP, however, found websites for umbilical cord stem cell banks in European Union member states and in the United States.

"They do the therapies, then they let the patients go on their own, short of maybe US$50-US$150,000 for a therapy that has no chance - taken away from a family that needs them when they have an incurable disease," Dr Weissman said. "It is wrong."

The International Stem Cell Society is due to issue a report in April about unproven stem cell therapies such as banking a baby's umbilical cord blood for future use. AFP

From TODAY, Monday, 22-Feb-2010
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Singapore’s shame

Letter from Lucia Maes

HAVING once lived in Singapore, I’m disappointed at how the authorities have reacted to the Geylang Serai food poisoning cases that culminated in a couple of deaths and a miscarriage.

Although it was stallholder Sheik Allaudin’s poor food preparation practices that led to the tragedy, the food poisoning was really just the tip of the iceberg. What it had actually unearthed was the negligence of the governing authorities. The food grading decals were distributed only four months after the grades were revised. And Mr Sheik’s poor food preparation skills merely uncovered the chronic problem of the presence of rats.

The views on Singapore held by the international community may be similar to how they view China — as unhygienic and unreliable.

From TODAY, Voices – Friday, 17-April-2009

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Hawkers get an earful

Geylang Food Poisoning
Health Minister says cleanliness standard is unacceptable

Esther Ng
estherng@mediacorp.com.sg


Spring-cleaning before the reopening of the market. Wee Teck Hian

ON THE eve of its reopening after two days of spring-cleaning, some 100 stallholders from the Geylang Serai Temporary Market attended a refresher course on cleanliness conducted by officers from the National Environment Agency (NEA).

And according to stallholder Ahman, they received an earful from one of the officers.

“He told us that he has been at the market at 1am for the past few days and back again at 4am — checking our stalls to see that they are clean,” said the 44-year-old chicken-rice seller, whose stall is opposite the Rojak Geylang Serai, which is at the centre of one of Singapore’s worst food poisoning scares.

“He warned us that he will take photos of untidy stalls and instead of giving us a ticket, he’ll summon us to court.”

During the hour-long briefing at the Kampong Ubi Community Centre, stallholders were reminded about housekeeping and hygiene.

They told Today that NEA officers had killed some 60 rats yesterday, which pointed to a cleanliness standard that Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan called unacceptable.

“During Sars we were very good, maybe 9/10. After Sars, I think we (have) dropped to maybe 5/10 or worse. You look at toilets. Remember the “Toilet is OK” campaign? At that time it was okay, now it is not so okay,” Channel News Asia quoted him as saying.

The Minister added that he had written to Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, who is currently out of town, to suggest that the NEA use the opportunity to raise hygiene standards here.

On his part, the Health Minister said he plans to bar any food stall operator with a hygiene rating of C from operating within hospitals. Those currently graded C will be given three months to shape up.

The rojak stall apparently had a C-rating according to reports. Two women have died and six patrons are still recovering in hospitals as more than a 100 people fell ill after eating allegedly contaminated rojak at the temporary market.

Said Ms Siti Hasnah of kueh stall Warong SK 2M: “The NEA officers showed us slides of what they expect from us — cover the food, don’t mix cooked and uncooked food; don’t put pots and pans on the floor. It’s not that we don’t know all these things, but sometimes people get careless or they only think about themselves and not how (the lack of hygiene) can affect others, so this is a good reminder.”

The temporary market has 369 booths, of which 83 are cooked food stalls.

Mr Ahman, whose stall is opposite the rojak booth, said he has been “feeling bad, sad and worried” ever since the food poisoning incident.

“I feel sad that two people have died, but I’m worried because we all have a business to run,” he said.

The stallholder estimated that his business had dropped by 15 to 20 per cent. “I can’t tell how my business will go now that the centre is re-opening. Weekends are usually good. We’ll see.”


From TODAY, News – Friday, 10-April-2009


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