The former head of the city's Doctors' Association has called for government regulation of the burgeoning stem-cell industry, warning a proliferation of services based on pseudo science is emerging.

"In advertisements and websites, there is a lot of information that is not truly scientific, its more a pseudo science and the chances of using your own cord blood to treat your own diseases are rather remote," former chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Association Tse Hung-hin said during a Consumer Council briefing Monday.

The odds against successfully transplanting a person's own stem cells are estimated at one in 20,000, according to medical literature, Tse said. "The usefulness, potency and safety of re-injecting yourself with stem cells after existing storage methods has yet to be proven," he added.

Medical researchers believe stem cells hold the key to treating a plethora of illnesses and other medical conditions. In Hong Kong, four private centers offer cord blood stem cell storage services in the city.

"Cord blood banking is becoming popular all over the world, including Hong Kong, but personally, I don't recommend people do this," professor of hematology and oncology at the University of Hong Kong Raymond Liang said.

"For genetic diseases, one's own cord blood is not a good choice," he said.

For example, doctors treating leukemia usually choose another person's stem cells for transplantation to get better anti-cancer effects, he said.

Public hospitals do not offer collection services for cord blood stem cells. Consumers who wish to avail such services must take more costly routes at private hospitals, he said.

Council Chief Executive Connie Lau said there were a growing number of businesses offering stem cell storage, playing on the hopes of consumers looking for rejuvenation through injection of stem cells.

As the result of a study that polled physicians and biological scientists on the storage and therapies related to umbilical cord blood and stem cells, the council warned consumers that the claims of services that store stem cells have yet to be clinically proven and that stem cells kept in storage likely will be of little use in the future.

She said services offered included the extraction of stem cells from adult peripheral blood, fat and children's baby teeth for future use.

"It remains unknown whether stem cells stored for therapeutic purposes in the future could be actually applied," Lau said, adding there have been six complaints filed with the Council since 2009. Most complaints related to misleading claims about stem cell facials that were alleged to have been facial masks made from plant extracts. She said the disputed amounts involved in the claims was nearly HK$500,000. The cost of storing cord blood and stem cells could range from HK$6,000 for three years to HK$30,000 for 25 years, she said.

China Daily

(HK Edition 08/17/2010 page1)