Parents Paying Up to $20K to Inject Children with Autism with Unauthorized Treatment Touted by RFK Jr.
AOL.com • • health
Key Points:
- Clinics in multiple U.S. states are offering unapproved and costly stem cell treatments for autism, charging families up to $20,000 per session despite FDA warnings about their lack of scientific evidence and potential harm.
- The treatments involve sedating children and administering intravenous stem cells derived from umbilical cords, with some parents reporting mixed or worsening outcomes after the procedures.
- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly supported expanded access to experimental stem cell therapies, criticizing the FDA's regulatory stance and promising to reduce barriers to these treatments.
- Experts express concern over the proliferation of unproven interventions exploiting vulnerable families and note a decline in FDA enforcement under Kennedy’s leadership, raising fears about patient safety.
- The FDA continues to caution that regenerative medicine therapies are not approved for autism or many other conditions and warns of serious risks such as blindness, infections, and tumor formation linked to unauthorized stem cell products.