From left are Dr. Oz, researcher Sally Temple, patient Patricia Holman, television personality Montel Williams and Dr. Elisabeth Leamy. (Courtesy Sony Pictures Television)

From left are Dr. Oz, researcher Sally Temple, patient Patricia Holman, television personality Montel Williams and Dr. Elisabeth Leamy. (Courtesy Sony Pictures Television)

From left are Dr. Oz, researchers Sally Temple, patient Patricia Holman, Dr. Elisabeth Leamy and television personality Montel Williams. (Courtesy Sony Pictures Television)

From left are Dr. Oz, researchers Sally Temple, patient Patricia Holman, Dr. Elisabeth Leamy and television personality Montel Williams. (Courtesy Sony Pictures Television)

Dr. Oz with Sally Temple, scientific director and co-founder of the Neural Stem Cell Institute. (Courtesy Sony Pictures Television)

Dr. Oz with Sally Temple, scientific director and co-founder of the Neural Stem Cell Institute. (Courtesy Sony Pictures Television)

Local stem cell researcher to appear on Dr. Oz today

Sally Temple has a plea for people considering stem cell therapy to cope with a chronic illness or life-threatening disease: Don't. Not yet.

Temple, co-founder of the Neural Stem Cell Institute in Rensselaer and president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, has spent her career studying stem cells. Her pre-taped appearance on "The Dr. Oz Show" airs Tuesday, Feb. 14, where she talks about the difference between stem cell research and what she calls the "snake oil" promises of clinics that haven't been approved by the FDA but promise miracle cures for scourges like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Stem cells hold promise for treatment because they are the foundation from which all parts of the human body grow.

There are more than 500 clinics in the country offering unproven therapies, including some in New York state and a lot in Florida. "We know it's going on all around the world," Temple said.

Patients lured by false promises spend a lot of money. Temple said people have taken out second mortgages to cover the costs. But they are also at medical risk, Temple said, because injecting stem cells even the patient's own cells can have unpredictable results.

On TV

The Dr. Oz Show airs at 2 p.m. weekdays on NewsChannel 13 WNYT. Learn more about stem cell research at http://neuralsci.org.

"We're now hearing of people getting dreadful outcomes, tumors and blindness," she said.

It's because, without FDA approval and the long process of testing a new drug, there's no way to know for sure what's in the syringe, Temple said. "It may sound good to take stem cells from your own fat and inject them into your eye, but injecting stem cells that were good at making fat into another part of the body where they were never supposed to be can be disastrous."

Dr. Mehmet Oz said he chose this subject because there are stem cell clinics using the potential of legitimate research to take advantage of patients desperate for help.

"These physicians are violating not only the trust of their patients but also the law and hopefully our show will push the FDA to use its authority to shut them down," Oz said.

Temple said she was impressed by how informed Oz was during the taping for the show in New York City last month, and said it was clear the researchers and producers on the show had done their homework. Montel Williams, a former show host himself, also appeared on the segment. Williams suffers from multiple sclerosis and said he's been approached by clinics who want his celebrity endorsement.

"He was fully aware of lack of research and knew that when you dig for scientific rationale, it's not there," Temple said. "True stem cell therapy is coming, but we have to go through the proper channels and know it's safe."

More:
Local stem cell researcher to appear on Dr. Oz today - Albany Times Union