21st Century Snake Oil

This story was originally published on April 18, 2010. It was updated on Sept. 9, 2010.

Con men used to travel town to town hawking medical remedies said to be made of Chinese snakes. "Snake oil" was useless and dangerous. So the FDA was created to put a stop to it and other food and drug scams.

But today, quack medicine has never been bigger. In the 21st century, snake oil has been replaced by bogus therapies using stem cells.

Stem cells may offer cures one day, but medical charlatans on the Internet are making outrageous claims that they can reverse the incurable, from autism to multiple sclerosis to every kind of cancer. Desperate people are being bilked out of their life's savings.

As we first reported last April, we've been looking into this surging crime and we found there is no better window on how it works than the practice of a man who calls himself doctor, a man named Lawrence Stowe. Stowe was unaware that some of his patients had been working with "60 Minutes."

Web Extra: The Promise of Stem Cell Treatment
Web Extra: A Warning About Stem Cell Fraud
Web Extra: Living with Lou Gehrig's Disease

One of those patients is Steven Watters, a college administrator in Lufkin, Texas, who, six months before we met him, received maybe the worst diagnosis imaginable: he has ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

About 30,000 Americans have ALS at any given time. And like Watters, they all will die, most within five years, as their nervous system gradually disconnects from their muscles.

"Everything just takes a little longer. I just set things up to where it requires minimal, manual effort," Watters told correspondent Scott Pelley. "Just handling personal hygiene is difficult - teeth brushing, flossing, very difficult, time consuming. So you just make the adaptations that you can and go on."

Eventually Watters will be able to move nothing but his eyes.

The same fate is ahead of Michael Martin who also has ALS. Martin has nearly lost any ability to speak, and very soon he won't be able to walk.

"I wonder what it was that your regular doctor back home told you about your disease and what your prospects were?" Pelley asked Martin.

"He said I had about two years," he replied.

No patient has ever been cured of ALS, and no patient has ever seen the symptoms reversed, even temporarily. But, still, desperate people find themselves drawn to a place that promotes the impossible: Stowe Biotherapy in La Mesa, Calif., near San Diego, which bills itself as a "medical oasis."

We asked a multiple sclerosis patient to go in with a hidden camera to hear Larry Stowe's pitch for his miracle treatment.

Stowe told our MS patient that he can reverse her disease with his program of herbs and vitamins to boost the immune system, custom vaccines and stem cell injections. Medical experts say it's nonsense but it's the same pitch that we secretly recorded again and again as Stowe claimed to reverse cancer, ALS, MS, Parkinson's disease and more.

"We're the only ones who's been able to get any body that's down here back up to here, and they stay back up to here. If we were a major pharmaceutical drug company, you know, we'd be talking about all of our research associating getting Nobel Prizes in medicine and things of that nature," Stowe said.

Larry Stowe is not a medical doctor. He claims two PhDs, but we found he only has one in chemical engineering. He had a career at Mobil Oil and holds patents in the oil industry.

But by the 1980s Stowe had taken a strange turn into pseudoscience. For a time, he promoted something called Eon Water which, he said, slowed the aging process. And by 2003, he had created the Stowe Foundation to advocate unproven stem cell therapies.

Michael Martin, one of the ALS patients helping with our story, had heard about Stowe from a friend. And before we ever met Martin, he had already given Stowe a down payment of $47,000 to start the treatment.

"When Dr. Stowe said that he could reverse this disease with stem cells, you thought what?" Pelley asked.

"Oh, I wanted to believe," Martin replied.

How does Stowe make believers of the desperate? We wanted to see.

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[smilecbs]

Where did Bartola Colon or what is his name? Where did he have his stem cell therapy done?

[BAGSR]

MEDRA is a huge scam. They even give you a folder on fundraising in order to come up with the $30,000.00 they charge for the treatment. They also will not give you the address for the facility that will treat you, and will have John Brower give you a follow up call. John Brower is not this person's real name by the way. He tried convince me of the treatment. I wanted to believe him and his wife so badly that I drove to the Long Island office of john Brower, and got nothing but lots of talk and info on how to fund raise. I just wanted to help my parents.

[BAGSR]

I would really like to know if these men have been arrested. They deserve to be treated like the criminals they are and by what ever agency whether its the state, county , or federal government and by the agency or combination of agencies that offers the greatest penalty for their crimes. I would rather see the IRS receive their ill gotten money than to learn they were able to hide their profits in a place where law enforcement cannot locate. But first they should be made to pay restitution to the surviving victims and their caregivers or family members. These men are stealing from a vulnerable population, and they are as disgusting and as sick as people that prey on children. I know they are under investigation, but are they incarcerated? They are a danger to society, and I am grateful for the airing of this special. I would love to see a follow up of their prosecution. I suffer every day watching my father deteriorate from ALS. I know there is no treatment or cure but, now that I'm aware I will make sure that these scam artist will not get a crack at my parents and cause further devastation than that which the disease already and will further inflict. People with neuromuscular diseases need more advocates. This broadcast has made a faithful fan out me and my family. Thank you

[GeraldElliott]

I was diagnosed with Beckers Muscular Dystrophy in 2007 just before I turned 61. A year ago I made the decision to have stem cell treatment, which was done on Nov3,2009. Within 36 hours there was a substantial improvement in my condition. I was able to get into a hotel shuttle van with no assistance and much less effort than the night before. As well my walking was so improved over the next 2 weeks, that my cane was no longer required.Without the stem cells, I would probably be in a wheel chair by now.
I approached the treatment with a very positive attitude even though the clinic could not give me any guarantees as to the results.
I looked at the treatment in 3 possibe outcomes- 1. Slow down the MD, or 2 Stop the MD or 3 Reverse the MD and forunately iwas reversed. I did not get a full recovery and probably never will- my balance is still off and I have difficulty getting up off the floor. But I am still walking without any assistance and I am still able to work in my shop.
Where was the treatment done?- in Neuvo Progrosso,Mexico through the International Stem Cell Institute based in the US at the Integra Medical Clinic by Dr. Omar Gonzales.
Would I go again? Yes, without question
What was the cost? $10,000.00 US including a $1000.00 down payment.
plus travel for my wife and I.
Was the treatment successful and did it meet my expectations?-very successful and beyond my expectations.
What is my point? Not all stem cell treatments are scams run by con-artists and you should not be implying that Stem Cell Treatment
does not work period. I and many others treated at this clinic at living proof that it does indeeed work for MD, Parkinsons, some forms
of MS, arthritis and some cancers. You could be correct about ALS.
It doesn't work for everyone but all stem cell treatments should be painted with the same brush.
How about doing an article on the positive side of Stem Cell treatment.
Feel free to contact me at any time I do have a copy of a local newspaper article plus an interview conducted by the local CTV station and a before-treatment video done by a friend.
Gerald Elliott
Fall River , Nova Scotia
Canada

[ShauneP]

Gerald; my name is Shaune, and I'm from Edmonton but living in Milan, Italy. I would love to ask you some questions about this clinic, as I have a colleague here in Italy that is looking at going to the same clinic as I think you were treated at.

[smartpatient]

Both of my parents developed cancer. My mom got developed breast cancer. An under-skilled female surgeon performed a lumpectomy (January 2001). The surgeon did not get clean margins and wanted to chop on my mom, again. My mom said, "Noway!" My mom had to have the surgery re-done at a different hospital by a decent surgeon at KU.

The follow up surgery treatment was many rounds of Radiation, but no Chemo was prescribed (Feb-May).

November 2001 my mom went for her health exam and was told that she was cancer free. December 25th, my mom's speech began slurring. The first week of January, my mom was given several scans and tests. They were trying to rule out TIA or tumors. A chest x-ray revealed a golf ball sized tumor developed in her right lung (same side where the radiation had been given). A lung doctor took a biopsy of this cancer. The doctors were assuming and certain it was probably breast cancer that had spread. Surprisingly, it was not. It was a totally new cancer that had developed. But they did not bother to tell our family that it was caused by the radiation (used to treat the breast cancer). The lung doctor removed 1/3 ot 1/2 of my mom's right lung (Feb. 2002). May 2002 my mom seemed to have, had a stroke. Her right side was weak. July 2002 she was getting worse. August 22, my mom began shaking and throwing up. She was admitted to the hospital. Tumors were found covering her brain. August 30th, my mom died.

My father died of cancer 6 months later. He had small cell lung cancer (we thank the Tobacco industry for getting him started on smoking when they passed out free cigs during World War II). My dad did not have surgery, he did have chemo (the chemo doctor bragged, to us, about how business was booming and that he would have to expand the size of his office), and he underwent radiation.

I have concluded that Cancer is big $$$ business. I do not believe that these traditional approaches work for the majority of folks. Both my parents died terrible deaths. There must be ways for people to have alternative methods available that insurance companies can afford. I know that Trichostatin A (is in the works). It makes more sense to use the body's own natural defense to tackle the cancer. Why use poison to destroy everything in the body. This is just feeding the greedy Cancer Medical Industry and doing little to improve the quality of a persons life.

The vital issue is for all people to stop using artifical chemicals in their bodies and in the environment. Cancer is caused by mutations of the body cells. Those don't just happen, they are happening because of an exposure to something not natural. Let's stop making the Cancer Industry people richer.

I miss my parents and I would never let another family member or myself undergo any of those idiotic cancer treatments.

[smartpatient]

I am glad this Medical fraud was exposed. An even bigger Fraud is happening down at MD Anderson (Houston). There is a specific doctor that likes to put people through Several CAT scans, give them blood thinner, than seek to remove multiple organs (even when they don't have confirmed cases of cancer). Most of his patients are senior citizens. But, I am a patient that questioned him and sought more than one opinion. As it turned out, I did not have cancer at all. Another top Cancer surgeon (at KU) discovered it was a Pseudocyst that resolved on its own. I did not need any form of surgery not even a biopsy. What is chilling is that I was nearly taken to the surgery room at MD Anderson. I tried to get help from their Patient Advocy. I was ignored and turned over to their risk management. I called Houston lawyers and one was honest. She told me that the Medical profession has bought off Texas lawmakers. Now, you cannot sue for Medical Malpractice or Negligance in that Lone Star State. I tried to file a complaint with the Texas Medical board and met with road blocks. Do not ever go to MD Anderson in Houston Texas. Go somewhere else to get Medical help!!!

[tvicknair]

This was a good report, except that it painted stem cell treatments with a broad brush. It not look at stem cell treatment in Europe, possibly the most regulated place on the planet. Europe exceeds the US in legitimate medical advances in use. Beyond Leukemia, stem cells are being used with rates of success higher than chemotherapy with certain diseases and condition, although these success vary widely. Success depends on how well the patients are screened, which technique is used and the disease or condition for which the patients are being treated.

[TheRealArtVandelay]

Wow, what a one-sided, deceptive report. I urge folks to check out thestowefoundation dot org to hear another side of this story.

[BAGSR]

you must work for them, or profit from them. You might actually be Stowe!

[tvicknair]

This was a good report, except that it painted stem cell treatments with a broad brush. It not look at stem cell treatment in Europe, possibly the most regulated place on the planet. Europe exceeds the US in legitimate medical advances in use. Beyond Leukemia, stem cells are being used with rates of success higher than chemotherapy with certain diseases and condition, although these success vary widely. Success depends on how well the patients are screened, which technique is used and the disease or condition for which the patients are being treated.

[hdc77494]

How about doing an expose on the snake oil salesmen who lied about the dangers of DDT leading to the deaths of millions to malaria, and has led to an epidemic of bed bugs in New York and elsewhere?