Six Japanese arrested over medical treatments using blood taken from umbilical cords, which are popular with Chinese visitors

Six people have been arrested in Japan over the illegal sale and use of blood from umbilical cords and placenta in regenerative medical treatments, with Chinese nationals reportedly the biggest foreign clients of clinics carrying out the procedures.

Police have referred Tsuneo Shinozaki, the head of a company that brokered the illegal sale of cord blood, to prosecutors, along with the head of a Tokyo regenerative medicine clinic and four others. The doctor has also been charged with breaking the law on regenerative medicine.

Blood taken from umbilical cords and placenta is high in blood-forming stem cells, which are used in treatments for leukaemia and other critical diseases. There are also hopes that research into regenerative medicine will find cures to cardiac and other complaints, and may even mitigate the effects of Parkinson’s disease by implanting nerve cells into the brain.

There are, however, elevated risks of infection and graft rejection, meaning any procedures using cord blood require extensive testing to ensure compatibility and explicit authorisation from Japan’s health ministry.

Claims the blood is also an effective beauty treatment have not been proven but that has not put off more than 1,000 patients undergoing such procedures at facilities across Japan in recent years. It has also been claimed it is effective in treating cancer, although that suggestion also remains unproven to date.

The manager of a clinic in Kyoto told local media Chinese people who had learnt of regenerative therapies had travelled to Japan on organised medical tourism trips.

“Chinese people misunderstand stem cell treatments and they just see it as some sort of magic solution to any health problems that they have,” the manager of a Tokyo-based clinic told the South China Morning Post.