Banking on Your Future,
a guest commentary by Dr. Peter Hollands Hardly a day goes by without a new revelation in stem cell technology. When I first worked in this field nearly 30 years ago there was little interest in stem cells beyond the highly specialized experts working on bone marrow transplantation. Today we hear about stem cells coming from cord blood, placenta, embryos, the fat collected during liposuction and even from baby teeth! All sorts of claims are made for the current and future clinical applications of these cells based sometimes on fact and sometimes on wishful thinking. The contributions of politicians, the media and perhaps worst of all self-interested ‘celebrities’ just help to confuse the debate. Whatever the present and future applications of stem cell technology may be it is becoming increasingly obvious that stem cell technology is big business in particular in the field of private banking of stem cells . Read the full article here.

Author Profile

Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.