Amazon site awash in dubious stem cell products

I'll say this for the promoters of bogus stem cell treatments: They are terrific at finding new ways to market their goods and services.

- MICHAEL HILTZIK COLUMNIST

UNDER Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the FDA may be less inclined to rein in stem cell promoters.

(JOSE LUIS MAGANA Associated Press)

For example, we've seen the proliferation of clinics offering purported stem cell-based cures or treatments for conditions including Alzheimer's, arthritis, cancer, macular degeneration, Crohn's disease, Parkinson's and even erectile dysfunction.

The Food and Drug Administration has said no scientifically validated evidence supports any of those claims, and warned the public against stem cell-related “unscrupulous hype” — in an advisory that seems no longer to be on the agency’s website.

We've seen stem cell hype regurgitated by otherwise respectable news organizations, abetted by high-profile athletes attesting to miracle cures of their musculoskeletal ailments.

Now the marketers of dietary supplements have entered the field by attaching stem cell-related claims to the ads and promotions for their products. A leading venue for these direct-to-consumer pitches: the massive online reach of Amazon.com, where hundreds of these products are hawked.

That's the finding of a just-published paper by Canadian researchers who compiled a database of 184 stem cell supplement listings sold by 133 companies on Amazon’s website. Their work attests not only to the extraordinary reach of stem cell-related marketing, but also to how supplement distributors fashion their promotions to stay within the admittedly weak oversight imposed on the industry by U.S. and Canadian regulators.

The advertising and promotional material “often distorts, exaggerates, and manipulates scientific evidence and rhetoric to sell stem-cell products, therapies, and ideas,” the paper states.