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The information here ranges anywhere from misleading to outright false. First off, the Center for Veterinary Medicine is a department of the FDA and does regulate the introduction of pharmaceutical therapies for animals as well as monmitors the marketing and use of veterinary medical devices.
Second, "stem cell therapies" are at the forefront of human medicine in these "oppresive" Western countries. There are currently around 200 disorders in humans that have been successfully treated using stem cells. To correct an often mistaken notion, all successful therapies to date have only been able to use non-embryonically derived stem cells, as with the horses that you mention above. If embryonic stem cells were so marvelous a cure, we certainly would have seen some stupendous discoveries in veterinary medicine where there is no compunction against the use of embyonically derived skin cells as opposed to non-embryonic sources.
If the medical regulatory regime is so opressive in Western countries, why is it that literally all the great advances in human pharmaceuticals and medical devices are developed in these same Western countries? It seems like the rest of the world waits for what Western medicine develops. Just look at how our medical advances are delayed in being approved and utilized in the East, the Middle East and in the third world countries. Ask any of the big Western companies how easy it is to get a drug-eluting stent into Japan. Or the latest radio-frequency emitting catheter into China. Or to be allowed to produce or sell the latest anti-hypertensive or cholesteriol lowering drug in Africa. You will find out pretty quick that the FDA is not all that oppresive compared to many of these other countries.
[Posted by: Larry at October 6, 2005 5:31 AM]
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