"A tiny vial no larger than the palm of his hand, he told the group, contains roughly ten million live stem cells, harvested from the placenta, amniotic fluid, umbilical cord, or amnion, the membrane that surrounds the fetus in the womb."

"Injected into a joint or spine, or delivered intravenously into the bloodstream, [retired orthopedic surgeon David] Greene told his listeners, those cells could ease whatever ailed them. On a screen behind him, Greene displayed a densely printed slide with a 'small list' of conditions his stem-cell product could treat: arthritis, tendinitis, psoriasis, lupus, hair loss, facial wrinkles, scarring, erectile dysfunction, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, emphysema, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS, neuropathy, pelvic pain, diabetes, dry eye, macular degeneration, kidney failure.... Greene said that amniotic stem cells derive their healing power from an ability to develop into any kind of tissue, but he failed to mention that mainstream science does not support his claims... [A]n industry has sprung up in which specialized clinics offer miracle remedies from poorly understood stem-cell products.... [M]anufacturers harvest the cells from tissues donated by women who have recently given birth, and the cells are then frozen and shipped to clinics.... Greene acknowledged that most patients don’t understand the difference between embryonic and other types of stem cells, and that the language he uses in his seminars is largely guided by market research. 'When you look at what people are typing on the Web, "stem cell" is the No. 1 key phrase,' he told me. 'That is the key word that the public in America understands.'"

From "The Birth-Tissue Profiteers/How well-meaning donations end up fuelling an unproven, virtually unregulated two-billion-dollar stem-cell industry" (The New Yorker).