60 Minutes

I watched 60 Minutes last night - that long running TV News magazine renowned for its hard-hitting coverage of current events and trends.

There was a fascinating story of Dr. Dan Ecklund of Equator who was selling Stem Cell Treatments over the internet for $5,000 a shot. Dr. Ecklund was claiming that his stem cell treatments could treat a myriad of conditions, including cerebral palsy.

They managed to lure the Doctor into a Florida hotel room, where they ambushed him with a surprise hidden camera interview.

Dr. Ecklund did the most amazing thing - instead of turning on his heel and making a quick exit, he actually stayed and gave them a pretty good interview. This is remarkable because the Doctor could easily have been arrested for selling stem cells in the US. Selling stem cells in the US for an unapproved treatment is a felony.
Not that stem cells are harmful in any way - it's just that the government wants to make sure that we don't get taken by some nefarious trickster. Thank goodness for that.

The 60 Minutes reporter accused Dr. Ecklund of being a charlatan selling false hope to desperate people. They pointed out that there were no articles in any US Medical journal that supported his claims. Dr. Ecklund rebutted that there were many articles in European journals that did support his claims. (As if they know anything about medicine in Europe - if medicine in Europe was any good, why do they have to give it away?)

Throughout the interview, they intermixed comments from Dr. Kurzberg, a medical researcher at Duke University who disputed almost everything that Dr. Ecklund claimed.


60 Minutes also pointed out that Dr. Ecklund had lost his license to practice medicine in the US because he had sexual contact with an underage female patient. This was a pertinent point to their argument against Stem Cell treatments.

The Dr. Ecklund went so far as to claim that most stem cell research in this country is being suppressed by the Pharmaceutical industry - as if the Pharmaceutical industry has any influence in America! What nerve!

60 minutes also made a point of mocking Dr. Ecklund's 'state of the art' Ecuadorian laboratory. Even the poorest pharmaceutical company in the US would be embarrassed by such a shoddy lab!

I am so glad that venerable news organizations are increasing public awarness about the evils od stem cell treatment. Recently, my pal's dog had some stem cell injections to treat hip Dysplasia. It worked so well that the dog is back to normal activity. But who in their right mind would want to receive the same medical treatment that they use on ANIMALS? Even if it potentially could bringsome relief to people suffering from horrible conditions like cerebral palsy? Thank God that they force Doctors like Dan Ecklund to practice healing in some third world Banana Republic, where there is no FDA (or pharmaceutical industry)!

Finally, Dr. Ecklund had had enough grilling from the 60 Minutes reporter, and he got up and left the interview. 60 Minutes then cut to a commercial.

Turns out that the entire segment was brought to us courtesy of Lipitor. A little internet research shows that Duke University gets billions in donations from the US Pharmaceutical industry. Reading the 60 Minutes web site this morning, I was amazed by the number of people commenting on the segment and extolling the effectiveness of Stem Cell research for a myriad of conditions, including Cerebral Palsy.

Those of us suffering from diseases or conditions that could potentially be reversed or cured by innocuous stem cells will just have to wait for the proper research to be completed before we can receive stem cell therapy. Even once all the medical evidence is in, it's still going to take a VERY long time before some lawyer is able to figure out how to patent stem cells. While stem cell treatments at $5,000 a shot might sound expensive, they're actually a lot less expensive than a lifelong course of pharmaceuticals that don't actually cure anything. Stem cells have a lousy business model.


Normally, this might raise a few eyebrows regarding the voracity of the 60 Minutes interview. But, hey, as they pointed out, Dr. Ecklund is a child molester! Who would want what he's selling?



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