The LA Times is reporting on the story of William Rader, a former psychiatrist who is currently serving as “chief scientist” for a California-based company named Stem Cell of America that arranges for patients to receive $30,000 injections of embryonic stem cells from aborted fetuses which is produced in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.
The treatment, which is delivered through an IV and in multiple injections under the skin of the abdomen, is used to treat everything from eye problems to spinal cord injuries and muscular dystrophy.
Treatment takes place one Saturday a month in a medical clinic named Oxygen which is located in Tijuana, Mexico. Patients are expected to either pay in advance or bring a certified check on the day of the injection, all of which is deposited into a U.S. bank account. Patients are also required to sign a consent form acknowledging that there are no guaranteed results and that they will not discuss this with the media or post anything online about it without permission from the company.
As expected, there is no science to back up any of the fantastic claims made on the website. It contains only testimonials from people who believe they were cured by the injections and links to studies on stem cells which have nothing to do with the product he's selling.
Rader, whose medical license was revoked for negligence, false or misleading advertising, and professional misconduct, is a former Navy psychiatrist who was married to actress Sally Struthers of the sitcom All in the Family. He once ran a chain of eating disorder clinics and worked as an on-air medical expert for KABC-TV in Los Angeles.
So how is he getting away with it?
“As long as the treatments never enter the country and Rader no longer represents himself as a licensed doctor, U.S. regulators are limited in their ability to stop him,” the LA Times reports. “For its part, the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates medications, medical devices and biological products, has no jurisdiction outside the United States.”
However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can take action against U.S. companies that promote questionable treatments abroad, but the last time it did so was in 1975.
"There are probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of websites and blogs making suspicious claims," said Mary Engle, associate director for advertising practices at the FTC. "We can't possibly pursue everything."
Mexican authorities told the LA Times that they were unfamiliar with Rader and his company, but did say that it is illegal to sell anything experimental in Mexico.
Rader claims to have used the stem cells himself for their alleged anti-aging properties and sees himself as a humanitarian and scientific pioneer.
But some of his patients see a far different dynamic at play in Rader's business. Jim Dierkop, 66, a patient who received an injection for a staph infection from which he received no benefit, described some of the other patients in Rader’s clinics as being parents of children with genetic defects and other incurable conditions.
"Everybody was desperate," Dierkop told the Times.
That explains why, even after being told that Rader lost his medical license supposedly for “standing up to the medical community”, patients still flock to him for treatment.
"Very few people don't come because of that," Rader said.
The FTC needs to do more to protect the public from predatory businesses such as this one which is built upon the exploitation of the innocent victims of abortion and the desperation of the seriously ill who have no other hope.
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