June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Unproven stem cell therapies that lure desperate patients around the globe must be condemned and stopped, said international scientists writing guidelines to help people resist the draw of those purported cures.

Treatments being offered today to patients willing to travel to China, Mexico, Thailand and other countries are nothing more than ``snake oil,'' said George Daley, president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, at the group's annual meeting in Philadelphia today. A committee of the society is developing recommendations to help patients understand how to evaluate services.

With the exception of blood and bone marrow transplants, ``there are no established stem cell therapies,'' said Daley, a researcher with Harvard University's Stem Cell Institute, at a press conference today. ``But there is a growing market between clinics purporting to offer cures and desperate patients.''

The 30-member committee, composed of scientists and ethicists from many countries, is seeking input from around the world and hopes to have a draft completed in about one month, Daley said.

The group will develop standards about the kinds of research that scientists should do in the laboratory and with animals before they begin conducting human trials or offering treatments to people, said Olle Lindvall, a neurologist at the University of Lund in Sweden and the committee's co-chair.

Clinical Trials

They also will outline steps for doctors running clinical trials to make sure patients are protected. These include having independent scientists review trial results and monitor their safety, said Insoo Hyun, a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the committee's other co-chair.

People conducting stem cell research with animals and humans also have a responsibility to report on treatments that fail, Hyun said. He joked that a journal ought to be established called Cell: Failures.

The guidelines will condemn the use of stem cells to treat patients ``as unproven medical innovation'' when it occurs outside an approved clinical trial, and especially when patients are charged. Scientists and doctors shouldn't participate in such trials ``as a matter of ethics,'' Hyun said.

The committee said it hopes its recommendations will guide regulators in various countries develop rules for how and when to approve clinical trials and treatments.

Scores of sites on the Internet market stem cell treatments in countries such as China, Thailand and Costa Rica. None is offering treatments proven to be safe and effective in a clear scientific process, Lindvall said.

``We need to be strong in condemning this kind of medical tourism,'' Lindvall said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Waters in Philadelphia at rwaters5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 12, 2008 15:01 EDT