#44 | Stem Cells & Autism: Hope, Science, or a Very Expensive Gamble?

Across the world, parents of autistic children are being offered something that sounds almost miraculous. Clinics promise better speech, better eye contact, calmer behaviour, and in some cases claim to repair or reverse autism. The price runs from £10,000 to £40,000, and often more than once. Over the last few months we've been approached by clinic after clinic wanting to come on the show and sell it to you. We said no. Instead we went and read the studies. This one isn't about having a go at parents. Every parent looking at this is acting out of love, and we've both been desperate enough to try anything. But love doesn't mean a clinic gets to make huge claims without evidence. Stem cell therapy is a legitimate area of research. It is not currently a proven treatment for autism, and there's a difference between something being researched and something being proven. We also get into the ITV whistleblower, and the GB News piece asking whether "those people" should have access to children. Timestamps 00:00 Hope, science, or a very expensive gamble 02:21 We are not attacking parents 10:15 What autism actually is 13:18 What stem cells actually are 15:56 The 2017 Duke study, 25 kids and no placebo 18:47 The 2020 Duke study, and what it found 24:38 Claim: a 95% success rate 29:08 Why you'd swear blind it worked 31:45 Thomas and Lydia progressed. Neither had stem cells 35:37 Claim: it repairs the autistic brain 38:12 Claim: most children improve 40:45 Claim: our treatment is evidence based 43:02 The risks nobody puts in the brochure 48:00 What that money could buy instead 50:45 The influencer taking commission 54:02 Have a word with yourself 66:45 "Have you missed the treatment window?" 72:32 Myths and facts 82:55 The ITV whistleblower 86:50 GB News and "those people" Latest episode in the link tree in bio.