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Stem cell clinics around the world are marketing treatments directly to consumers for a range of serious conditions, including multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and spinal cord injury, even though there is little published evidence that such treatments clearly work.

Last year Canadian researcher Timothy Caulfield and colleagues published a snapshot of 19 online clinics offering treatments that usually involved adult stem cells from bone marrow, blood, fat or skin being injected into the recipients’ spinal fluid, bloodstream or even directly into the brain.