POSTBAG
This letter is in response to the recent editorial, "Bring control to stem cell use" (Perspective, 22 June 2008). As a patient who was treated in September 2005 in Thailand by the Thai-Israeli company mentioned in the editorial, I would like to point out not only why stem cell therapy companies in Thailand should be regulated by the Thai FDA and the Medical Council of Thailand, but also why the companies that are currently operating entirely unregulated in Thailand should have their operations suspended immediately until a proper framework has been put into place to control them.
The editorial mentions an "apparently highly successful procedure." The efficacy of this company's treatments has never been scientifically proven and is based solely on subjective views of the very company officers who profit from the treatment.
I was the third patient treated using this company's direct myocardium injection technique, and after two years, my heart condition is no better than when I was treated. Incidentally, I am one of the apparent "success" stories the company touts in internet press releases, and I believe, the longest survivor of the treatment. Perhaps they still think I am a success story because they have never felt it necessary to follow up with me after my surgery; although I shared with them medical reports from my physicians in the United States for six months post treatment.
Two other of the initial "success" stories that have been heavily publicised are dead; namely Don Ho, the famous Hawaiian singer who died a little over a year after treatment, and Jeanine Lewis, who died less than one year after treatment and was the first patient treated in Thailand using this technique. Objective cardiac testing has shown that the heart function of the second American patient treated has steadily declined since his treatments, and yet he is consistently trotted out as a treatment "success", appearing in a number of magazine articles and other news stories.
Had this company been properly regulated from the onset, they would not have been able to make such unsubstantiated treatment efficacy claims without properly conducted, peer reviewed, published clinical trials actually demonstrating efficacy. And they should never have been allowed to treat patients for profit without them!
Had this company been properly regulated by the Thai FDA they would not have been able to mislead thousands of prospective patients and scores of to-be-treated patients about the licensing of their Israeli laboratory.
Since its inception until approximately fifteen months ago, the company claimed that their lab was a cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice for pharmaceuticals) facility in Israel when, in fact, internal company documents prove that their lab was never certified cGMP. It still is not. Had the Thai FDA been involved from the beginning, this fraud could never have been perpetrated.
Furthermore, this company would not have been able to defraud patients and mislead doctors by misrepresenting their stem cell product as a "numerically expanded soup of the patients' own specifically selected cells" when, in fact, according to the company's published scientific paper, it is a "biologic" product manufactured from a patient's biological sample which contains "manufactured" cells that were not present in the patient's original blood sample. But admitting this would have most likely placed their product under Thai FDA scrutiny from the very beginning, costing them precious time and money. So they lied.
As a patient on whom these frauds were perpetrated, I am submitting detailed charges and proof to the Medical Council of Thailand and the Thai FDA within the next 30 days, after my documents are translated into Thai by a certified Thai translator. Until these charges can be fully investigated and a proper regulatory environment can be implemented in Thailand, this company and all others like it should not be allowed to profit from these treatments, and their operations should be suspended immediately.
HARRY J. DEPIETRO
Girard, Ohio
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Plan better for water distribution
I read with interest the well-written "Beyond Riparian Rights" in Perspective of June 22, 2008. Many things stand out, not least the second paragraph that quotes a local woman who mentions that the Chinese recently built two large dams upstream of the mighty Mekong which has lowered the river level. Does she know the Chinese are building six additional large dams in that same up-river region?
Also of interest is the bad planning which results in little or no promised water getting to farmers. One reason for this is the height of the reservoirs is too low, which, even with additional pumps along the way, precludes water from getting through sediment-choked pipes.
I am not surprised, as I've seen such inferior planning on smaller levels here in Thailand. Most houses and apartments use two or three pumps in their water systems when one well placed pump would suffice. Reservoir or "holding tank" heights are not always sensibly planned. In my adopted town of Chiang Rai, they're building a very tall holding tank for a new municipal system. Part of the feeder lines go up a nearby high hill. A ground level holding tank at the top of the hill would preclude the need to build a very tall holding tank at a lower elevation, thereby saving construction costs.
Finally, I'd like to mention that solar powered pumping is very well suited for water distribution networks in the Northeast..
Why wait for 30 to 50 years for subsequent Thai generations to realise that solar is the smart way to go? The technology is currently available and operational in other countries. The prices are similar or lower than regular fossil-fuelled technology, and the fuel is free.
KEN ALBERTSEN
Chiang Rai
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Paranoia strikes deep in US
This has reference to the Global Viewpoint article featuring an interview with Gen Wesley Clark and published in Perspective on June 22, 2008.
There is no doubt that in the USA "fear" has become an integral part of any discussion of national security. For the politicians in America, especially the Republicans, it has become a very clever tool for keeping the masses paranoid and justifying the huge investment in the military-industrial complex. The Republicans have mastered the art of creating an "enemy" that doesn't really exist, and have been successful in creating an "evil" somewhere on the planet to get their members elected. Whether it is old Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Vietnam, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua or North Korea, the Americans citizens have been anaesthetised into believing there is an enemy out there they should all "fear" and that there are countries and people out there "who hate our way of life".
The finest traditions of civil liberties in America have been trashed in the name of "homeland security". It is about time that the American citizens elect politicians who can bring back the great American virtues of human liberty and freedom.
In its finest tradition the American dream is fully capable of contributing to the improvement of the quality of human life all over the planet. Through its vast resources and advances in science, technology and medicine it can shape the future of mankind.
No other country on this planet is capable of doing it.
As an American citizen born in India, I can vouch for its greatness. I am a proud product of what America is supposed to be all about.
KNAGI
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PAD are posers
I am writing to agree with Robby of Dubai, who is fed up with the PAD. They are, to me, "People Against Democracy." All they do is pose for cameras, and puff themselves up as saviours of the people. Real democracy is slow, takes time, and has elections. The people of Thailand voted and elected this government, and now if they don't like it, will elect different representatives next time around, who hopefully will chose someone better prepared to be prime minister. However, to tout democracy while trying to express themselves via the "One Mob, One Rule" method is not democracy. It is old-fashioned street anarchy. True believers in democracy must express patience, and use the ballot box, the courts, and legal (albeit slow) democratic methods. And one more point, the flagrant use of the colour yellow to somehow legitimise their street mentality and mob behaviour is a great insult to the King and the people of Thailand.
RONALD MURDOCK
Loei Province
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Write us: Please send your comments on Perspective articles to perspective@bangkokpost.co.th
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