Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., and Robert J. Cihak, M.D., The Medicine Men
Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006

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Lawyers love to talk about the slippery slope, how you bend the rules a little or do something a little wrong and it leads inevitably to worse. But sometimes the slope turns into a precipice and you find yourself looking into the abyss. Use of fetal tissue for cosmetic purposes – especially fetal tissue conceived only for that purpose – is such precipitous plunge.

The scientific and medical community knew it would happen eventually but didn't know how soon. False hope for stem cells is cruel enough – but using stem cells from fetuses created for monetary gain to use for cosmetic purposes seems to us to cross the moral line.

In a News of the Day announcement on August 17, 2001, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons discussed a new abuse of stem cells.

Exclusive clinics in various worldwide locations are offering face lifts and cosmetic procedures using tissues from aborted fetuses and stem cells from human embryos. The cells are said to rejuvenate the skin.

The optimum age of the fetus is 8 to 12 weeks. Reportedly, women in poor nations are paid up to $200 to carry a baby until the appropriate time for "harvesting" the cells.

U.K. stem-cell researcher Colin Blakemore told the London Daily Mail that the therapies are "highly experimental" and could damage the reputation of legitimate researchers.

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It seems distasteful, but thousands of women have already done it and it is organized by a seemingly respectable British clinic and carried out in Rotterdam, Holland, where rules regarding stem-cell therapies are less strict.

The clinics, many of which are located in tourist destinations, are unregulated by any international body. There are 50 clinics in Moscow, including the Cellulite Clinic. Complications are hushed up, Blakemore said.

"This savage and repulsive 'brave new world' of human sacrifices in the quest for eternal youth is a prime example of the end results when all moral boundaries are destroyed," said Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America. (Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 8/8/06).

In sum, is this not part of a larger moral precipice of whole trafficking in humans, human parts (Chinese organ transplants, etc.), cloning for desirable features, prostitution and a lucrative underground in aborted fetuses and stem cells from human embryos? What next – the use of fertility drugs to create more embryos and thus get more bang for the black market buck?

Abuses such as these should strongly encourage the nation and world to rethink and re-debate the controversial new world of stem-cell research.

Editor's Note: Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., wrote this week's commentary.

Contact Drs. Glueck and Cihak by e-mail.

Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., comments on medical-legal issues and is a Visiting Fellow in Economics and Citizenship at the International Trade Education Foundation of the Washington International Trade Council. Robert J. Cihak, M.D., is a Senior Fellow and Board Member of the Discovery Institute and a past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

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