Costa Rica Shuts Down Stem Cell Clinic

June 2nd, 2010

Costa Rica is ordering the country’s largest stem cell clinic to stop offering treatment. The country’s health minister said that there is no proof that the treatment is effective today.

Hmmmmm…what is going on down there?

About 400 patients, mostly foreigners from the United States, have been treated at the Institute of Cellular Medicine in San Jose for multiple sclerosis, arthritis, spinal injuries and other illnesses.

“This isn’t allowed in any serious country in the world,” Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila said in a telephone interview.

The Health Ministry several weeks ago ordered the clinic, owned by Arizona entrepreneur Neil Riordan, to stop performing the treatment, in which stem cells extracted from the patients are reinjected into their bodies.

The ministry said the clinic has a permit to store the stem cells extracted from patients’ own fat tissue, bone marrow and donated umbilical cords but is not authorized to perform the treatment.

Sylvia Molina, an assistant at the clinic, said it would shut its doors on Friday as they get the boots.

Sounds pretty fishy. Not the shutting tit down, but that this is a clinic owned by an entrepreneur and they are basically testing on humans without results? No idea. Just sounds a bit shady to me and I’m all about stem cell research.