Fetus cells used in controversial cosmetic treatment

Britons desperate to halt the ageing process are being injected with the stem cells of aborted foetuses at a clinic that charges 15,000 ($38,120) for a controversial new treatment.

Despite warnings from biologists in the UK that the process is unproven and could be harmful, dozens of British women have flown to Barbados in the hope that the injections will make them forever young - and possibly even boost their sex drive.

The treatment is also available in Ecuador, Russia and Ukraine, where it was developed by scientists to treat Parkinson's disease and blood disorders.

But converts claim that wrinkles can be ironed out and the fresh face of youth restored.

"It is the most natural form of healing there is," said Barnett Suskind, chief executive of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine in Barbados.

"You think better, sleep better, look better. Your quality of life improves and your libido certainly improves."

Christine Roberts, 57, would agree. She flew to the clinic in Barbados in May for the treatment. "A lot of people say my skin is better," she said. "I do feel 10 years younger."

There is consensus within the scientific community that stem cells could revolutionise medicine.

Normally taken from lab-created embryos, the young cells have the potential to turn into different types of healthy cells, enabling doctors to treat a range of illnesses, including diabetes and heart disease.

The Barbados clinic's claims are based on the theory that this process can be used for cosmetic purposes.

It, however, takes stem cells from aborted foetuses that have gestated for six to 12 weeks, and injects these into the patient's arm.

According to the institute, the new cells may search out damaged and dead cells in the body and work to repair and replace them. But doctors at the IRM admit they are not yet sure how this happens.

Suskind said: "The stem cells either call on the body's reserve of healing cells which replace and repair the damaged cells, or they themselves replace and repair the damaged cells."

But Dr Stephen Minger, director of the King's College London stem-cell biology laboratory, said Suskind's claims are not based on scientific evidence. The centre has yet to carry out controlled clinical trials that would shed light on the efficacy and safety of the procedure, he said.

The use of tissue from aborted foetuses has also raised ethical worries.

But Suskind said he was "100 per cent sure" the treatment would be available in Britain "within five years".

- INDEPENDENT