Manila: A Philippine-based group has aired concern over the dangers of stem cell treatment as it warned of the possibility that materials being used for such procedures could have been extracted from hapless donors, particularly human foetuses.

Dr Leo Olarte, spokesman of the Philippine Society for Stem Cell Medicine, said they were alarmed over reports coming locally and from abroad that some stem cell materials were being taken from the unborn.

At the same time he called on the Department of Health to carefully watch stem cell treatment practitioners. The Catholic Church, he said, should unite with health practitioners and put an end to such practices.

Olarte was quoted as saying in reports that allogenic stem cells from aborted foetuses of humans were being exported to the Philippines.

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We cannot stand by and merely watch how they exploit people in poverty just to profit while allowing others who are economically well off to benefit from this, he said.

He said there were reports that human stem cells from foetuses and female egg cells were being used in anti-ageing procedures and other medical treatments.

Olarte is also concerned over the sale of supposedly stem cell products that come in the form of injectibles and even soaps.

Dont patronise those products. An example is the stem cell soap. It is unfair that stem cell therapy becomes a quackery, he said.

Earlier, Department of Health Secretary Enrique Ona led a national convention participated in by doctors to discuss the truth behind stem cell therapy.

Originally posted here:
Philippine-based group warns on stem cell medicine