Deflating the hype and exposing the risks of stem-cell treatments -

Stem cells and regenerative medicine—a promising and complex field that has been a preoccupation of no less than popes, presidents, and top health policy makers—have become medicine’s new “Wild, Wild West.”

Companies have thrown up hundreds of web sites, advertising unproven and largely unregulated stem cell treatments. Providers, some operating out of strip malls, have taken to the airwaves to tout stem cell products and services with full-blown commercial broadcasts, while others have advertised heavily in print and wrapped some of the nation’s major newspapers with multi-page promotions.

Without rigorous evidence, claims are circulating freely that patients can benefit from “regenerative” therapies for a staggering array of conditions, including autism, aging, macular degeneration, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and erectile dysfunction....