Philippines: the fashion for stem rejuvenation
66-year-old Cynthia Carrion-Norton, a member of the Philippine Olympic Committee and former Deputy Minister for Medical Tourism, claims that she owes her youthfulness and energy to adult stem cell therapy, which she actively recommends to her peers.
The advertised procedure consists in isolating stem cells from the patient's own adipose tissue and then injecting them into the bloodstream. In the hope of improving their health and looking younger than their years, wealthy Filipinos, obsessed with the idea of slowing down aging, spend from $12,500 to $18,000 on one such procedure.
According to the doctor Florencio Lucero, who in 2006 began to practice anti-aging therapy with adult stem cells from adipose tissue in Manila, the most suffering clients are rich businessmen and statesmen, mostly men who want to look younger than their years and send their wives and girlfriends for the same.
Lucero also claims that Filipinos have resorted to aging-slowing therapy with stem cells since the 1970s and often turn to foreign clinics for this.
Entrepreneur from medicine Bobby Kittichaiwong (Bobby Kittichaiwong) said that he runs a very profitable business, which consists in organizing visits by the Filipino elite of the German clinic Villa Medica. This clinic practices a much more controversial method of anti-aging therapy, known as fresh cell therapy. It consists in isolating cells from sheep embryos and injecting them into the patient's muscles. The description of the effects of therapy states that 14 days after the procedure, the patient's skin is ruddy, and the condition of his digestive tract and immune system will significantly improve.
According to Kittichaiwong, 400 Filipinos visited the clinic last year, each of whom paid $20,000 for the visit. Among the most famous patients of the clinic is the former President of the Philippines, 76–year-old Joseph Estrada, who recently reappeared in the political arena after being overthrown in 2001 due to uncovered corruption. In the Villa Medica brochure, there is a review written by Estrada, in which he claims that after therapy, his sleep improved, his knee joints stopped worrying, and his skin shines. Other prominent Filipino politicians are also listed as Villa Medica patients.
At the same time, many experts express serious criticism regarding the therapy with sheep embryo cells. They warn potential patients that the introduction of animal cells can have fatal consequences for humans.
However, proponents of therapy insist on its absolute safety and give ridiculous-sounding arguments like the following: "what you eat every day is foreign material, but you don't develop rejection." They also note that Villa Medica plans to open a branch in the Philippines.
Stem cell therapy in order to improve health and appearance is popular in China, India and many other Asian countries. However, as in the Philippines, their legislation is very far behind the achievements of medical science.
The Philippine Ministry of Health is unable to regulate the use of cell therapy methods, which is gaining more and more popularity against the background of a chaotic and often dubious boom in this industry.
The much larger markets of the middle and low-income classes in the Philippines are also replete with offers of more affordable products and procedures presented as stem cell therapy.
For example, stem cell pills that will make you "feel and look at least seven years younger" can be purchased on Philippine websites for as little as 9,000 pesos (approximately $200).
Both cheap and prestigious beauty salons offer a whole range of appropriate procedures, and some of them are carried out without the participation of specialists with medical education.
According to the recommendations of the American Medical Association, human stem cell therapy can be life-saving for patients with diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma and some solid tumors.
Experts of the International Stem Cell Research Community also believe that procedures using adult human stem cells have great potential in the treatment of a wide range of diseases. However, they warn that there are clinics that offer "untested therapies" for the treatment of a variety of diseases associated with a serious risk of severe complications.
The shortcomings of the legislation make the Philippines an ideal place to create such clinics, which, according to the vice president of the Philippine Medical College, Dr. Anthony Leachon, "staged a hunt for the desperation of sick people."
Philippine Health Minister Enrique Ona said that the ministry plans to compile a list of doctors and institutions accredited for stem cell therapy. However, apparently, the government is very interested in the income from this business, as Enrique She also notes: "we are looking at this issue with a certain degree of freedom to ensure that our clinics providing high-quality stem cell therapy services are able to continue working. We hope that in the future the Philippines can become a center of stem cell therapy, if not at the international level, then at least for our region."
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on Medical Xpress materials:
Philippine elite fight ageing with stem cell therapy.
08.11.2013