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Panel Refines FDA Xenotransplant Guidelines for Protecting
Blood 

Reading Jeffrey L. Fox's recent summary on new xenotransplant guidelines (ASM News. March 2000, p. 129) brings to mind the practice of "Frischzelltherapie" (fresh cell therapy).

Several Swiss private medical institutions that advertised for and offered Frischzelltherapie to treat the ailments of aging by injection of fetal sheep cells were and might still be in operation. The claim was that fetal cells would carry and restore the essence of youth. Although such therapies were restricted to an older and well-heeled clientele, thousands of patients must have been treated over the years. The advanced age of these xenotransplant patients, the low likelihood of them acting as blood or organ donors, and the exclusive international character of the clientele, might have made the detection of misadventures unlikely.

Nevertheless, one should ask whether any epidemiological studies were or should be undertaken. Can any ASM member recall anything in this respect?

Juan N. Walterspiel
18 Rose Lane
East Lyme, Conn.
WADBC@aol.com