False stem cell claims worry charity

The General Medical Council has stepped in to protect more patients from malpractice among doctors and has announced that it will be investigating claims regarding one Dr Robert Trossel.

This week, the council's Fitness to Practise Panel began a 40-day hearing that will involve evidence from several people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who had stem cell treatment from Dr Trossel, alleging that he was offering and making false claims about the controversial therapy.

Responding to the announcement, MS Society chief executive Simon Gillespie, speaking in an interview with the Guardian, said: "We have been concerned for some time about the regulatory gaps that allow practices, such as selling bogus treatments, to go unchallenged.

"It is high time that regulators took firm action to stamp out cowboy stem cell operations."

The MS Society is the UK's biggest charity for those affected by the degenerative disease, which affects around 100,000 people in the country.

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