Patients with incurable conditions exploited by stem cell scam

PATIENTS with incurable conditions are being duped by scam stem cell clinics that exploit their desire to get better.

Martin Codyre, a spinal cord injury survivor and campaigner for regulated embryonic stem cell research, said he contacted overseas clinics and was bombarded with marketing material by return post.

“As soon as I tell them I’m recently paralysed, they make claims for how they’ll help me and then they send me a bunch of marketing material. They show you how to set up a website and fundraise so you have money to spend on their scam cures. It’s quite evil.”

Mr Codyre, aged 33, from Bray, Co Wicklow, backs the Irish Stem Cell Foundation’s call for legislation to regulate embryonic stem cell research. The foundation said the legal vacuum means thousands of unused embryos from IVF are destroyed when they could be used for medical research.

It also warned patients could be prevented from accessing treatments developed abroad because treatments need approval for use here.

The foundation – made up of doctors, patients, academics and representatives of the biotechnology industry – yesterday set out the legislation it wants. It said the law should ban experiments like human cloning and the mixing of animal and human cells but allow IVF couples to donate surplus embryos destined for destruction to be used for medical research.

Dr Stephen O’Sullivan, the foundation’s chief scientific officer, said: “This state is very hypocritical. About 3,000 women go for IVF here every year, yet we don’t have laws regulating it or what happens to the surplus embryos.”

UCC biochemist Professor William Reville, who opposes the use of embryonic cells, said his view was backed by the majority of people in a 2007 poll. He said the focus should be on developing the potential of adult stem cells.

Senator Ronan Mullen attacked the foundation, calling their claims “manipulative and unfounded”. “Embryo research is deeply unethical in itself, as it involves the killing of human beings at their earliest stage in life,” he said.

Mr Codyre said: “It makes me sad that people who are not in a wheelchair, who don’t need someone to help them go to the toilet, try to push an agenda that serves no-one but their own political aspirations.”

Health Minster Mary Harney said she plans to introduce legislation on assisted human reproduction, including the treatment of embryos, later this year.