
Beware of Buying Young People's Blood to Prevent Aging, FDA Says - leothekim
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-19/beware-of-buying-young-people-s-blood-to-prevent-aging-fda-says
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killjoywashere
As the medical director of a blood bank and donor center that produces plasma,
please do not taint the public's perception of the blood supply with misuses
like this. We have a hard enough time ensuring sufficient donors without
calling into question our disposition of their generous donations. We do not
condone this sort of use. If you think this is abstract, I am about to send an
email to my surgical colleagues because we'll be out of the most precious
donation tonight at midnight: platelets. You tighten the donor pool at all,
and you will make platelet donations exponentially harder.

I can't overemphasize the risk this misuse of blood products represents to
healthcare systems around the world. This is an anti-vax movement waiting to
happen: "Billionaires looking for a fountain of youth get blood transfusions
from young bucks? WTF?" blends easily into "Why should I donate blood if
they're just going to sell it to billionaires?" This would be catastrophic for
trauma resuscitation, surgeries of all kinds, and a variety of medical
patients.

There should be severe penalties for soliciting service like this. Imagine if
solid organ transplants were handled in the same way: "Young man, as a new
intern, I'll give you a percentage of my Facebook stock in exchange for a
kidney..."

The next problem: it will only take one high-profile transfusion reaction to
crater the public trust. If the biology nerds in the audience want to distract
you with fancy talk about the low risk of certain molecular things happening
because "it's just plasma", skip it. Simple, mechanical transfusion-associated
circulatory overload is plenty enough to kill an old guy with stiff arteries
and hypertension.

And the worst part is the lack of science being used to drive a supply chain
decision that's highly science-dependent. This is so ethically corrupt I don't
even know where to begin. The FDA's statement pales in comparison to what I'm
sure the inspectors are actually feeling right now.

Please, if you know someone soliciting this kind of transfusion (recipient or
physician), encourage them to read the FDA statement.

~~~
JamesBarney
> Imagine if solid organ transplants were handled in the same way: "Young man,
> as a new intern, I'll give you a percentage of my Facebook stock in exchange
> for a kidney..."

This is already true in Iran. Here's the first paragraph of the Wikipedia
entry.

The practice of selling one's kidney for profit in Iran is legal and regulated
by the government. In any given year, it is estimated that 1400 Iranians sell
one of their kidneys to a recipient who was previously unknown to them.[1]
Iran currently is the only country in the world that allows the sale of one's
kidney for compensation (typically a payment); consequently, the country does
not have either a waiting list or a shortage of available organs

~~~
d3ad1ysp0rk
Your success criteria both reference the recipient. Often things can work out
well for the wealthy and poorly for even those who "voluntarily" opt in.

~~~
killjoywashere
Oh, yeah, donating a kidney halves the donor's long-term glomerular filtration
capacity. They're sacrificing years of life for that decision.

~~~
JamesBarney
Is it really this much? Anything you can point to? I had a friend who worked
for. A non profit related to kidneys and she said the risks were minimal
besides the surgery, and I always found that hard to believe.

~~~
killjoywashere
You have two sieves and can sift 10 pounds of sand a minute. I take away one
of your sieves. How long will it take you to sift those 10 pounds of sand?

~~~
JamesBarney
This analogy doesn't really explain how much having only one kidney effects
life expectancy.

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gotocake
Proof if it were needed that money can’t buy you brains. Making the leap from
rodent models where a juvenile and elderly rodent _shared a circulatory
system_ to transfusions is so breathtaking in its lack of basic sense that you
have to wonder how these guys made it in tech to begin with. Never mind that
we’re not rodents, and if we were we’d already be immortal with all we’ve
cured mice of. Never mind the morality or risks, just focus on the stupidity
of equivocating a pint of “young blood” with hooking your circulatory system
to another organism!

Is it really shocking that cadging the use of a young endocrine system,
kidneys, lungs etc might help an older organism? No. Is it shocking that
supposedly intelligent people have managed to conflate that with a
transfusion? Yes!

~~~
tomp
But why not? It seems that blood donation is a well-established medical
practice, so presumably safe... So for minimal risk, you get a low-probability
chance of tremendous benefit (life extension). Sounds very worth it.

~~~
gotocake
Blood transfusion comes with a host of risks which increase the more you do
it. Call me old fashioned, but I’d like to save up for a time when my life
depends on not having an infusion reaction!

I’m also getting the sense that you’re not quite getting what I’m saying about
the difference between getting a bag of blood from a teenager, and having your
circulatory system grafted onto a teenager. Even leaving aside the “we’re not
mice” issue, you do see the difference not only in scale, but type right?
Please say yes...

~~~
tomp
Sure, but that's just you. Personally, I definitely support people electing to
do experimental treatments on themselves, as long as there's sufficient
oversight. Especially people who are close to dying anyways (e.g. maybe not at
35, maybe yes at 95).

Not sure what you're getting at with transfusion vs. circulatory system... I
see 3 options: (1) works in mice but not in humans, (2) works in humans with
just blood, (3) works in humans but needs more than blood (either whole "young
circulatory system" or just parts of it, e.g. hormones etc.). So, you might be
willing to experiment that (2) holds.

I mean, if you're opposed to this, if you're _certain_ it's immoral, wouldn't
you also be opposed to _any_ trials as well? After all, this is similar to a
trial... Sure, it doesn't have as much value to the society, as it's not blind
randomized, but it might still have tremendous value to an individual.

~~~
Junk_Collector
"Not sure what you're getting at with transfusion vs. circulatory system"

Because having a graft like they did to the mice is closer to the equivalent
of a new kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas transplant than it is to a blood
transfusion. The original experiment is no where near close to what is being
sold and there are no controlled trials that show a "young blood" transfusion
provides benefit.

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youeeeeeediot
> sells one liter of blood plasma from donors between the ages of 16 and 25
> for $8,000, according to its website.

I would be very curious to know what they typically paid the donor in that
transaction.

~~~
awakeasleep
It's typically a blood plasma internship, done for exposure to the wealthy
clients.

~~~
kbenson
Poe's law is so strong with this comment, I have no idea what to believe.

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moate
I feel like this is missing the part where the FDA just shut down Ambrosia.

Check out their site. It's just a note "In compliance with the FDA
announcement issued February 19, 2019, we have ceased patient treatments."

[https://www.ambrosiaplasma.com/](https://www.ambrosiaplasma.com/)

~~~
therealforsen
That's creepy to associate young people's blood plasma with nectar of the
gods.

~~~
wincy
Well the nectar of the gods made you immortal if you ate/drank it, right? So
it seems appropriate considering what they purported to be selling.

~~~
CharlesColeman
> So it seems appropriate considering what they purported to be selling.

Or inappropriate false advertising...

~~~
wincy
Hence the word purported and not “are selling”. We’re in agreement here,
sounds like snake oil to me.

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leothekim
Formal statement from the FDA:
[https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/u...](https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm631568.htm)

~~~
moate
Link currently broken (from their side)

~~~
DoreenMichele
Works just fine for me.

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glitcher
Yet another example of reality making it very difficult for organizations like
the Onion.

~~~
anonytrary
You had me in the first half, not gonna lie.

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bytematic
I feel like this headline could be from any century

~~~
bitxbitxbitcoin
Or from any country - such as Transylvania.

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jklinger410
The FDA is still on the fence about Marijuana, if that gives you any idea of
where they are at on new technologies and drugs.

~~~
komali2
Sure, but let's leave the FDA out of the picture for a second:

1\. How much evidence is there that Marijuana is an effective treatment for
certain diseases? How much evidence is there that Marijuana is harmful?

2\. How much evidence is there that infusing young people's plasma into your
blood treats any illnesses? How much evidence is there of risks associated
with infusing plasma?

We don't need to include the FDA to take a look at how silly the idea is.

~~~
joejerryronnie
In college, I’m pretty certain I infused marijuana into my bloodstream for
four straight years. The resultant life extension is still to be determined.

~~~
rsynnott
But have you tried injecting your blood into an insane billionaire? That seems
to be part of the process.

~~~
komali2
"You wouldn't believe the NEW WEIRD WAY kids are GETTING HIGH!"

------
NeedMoreTea
LOL I thought this was a crazy imagined thing for Gavin Belson. So I guess the
SV thing was a satire of real life already?

~~~
ladybro
[https://gizmodo.com/peter-thiel-goes-on-the-record-about-
inj...](https://gizmodo.com/peter-thiel-goes-on-the-record-about-injections-
of-youn-1830165868)

------
minikites
Peter Thiel is going to be disappointed.

[https://www.inc.com/jeff-bercovici/peter-thiel-young-
blood.h...](https://www.inc.com/jeff-bercovici/peter-thiel-young-blood.html)

[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/peter-thiel-wants-
to...](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/peter-thiel-wants-to-inject-
himself-with-young-peoples-blood)

~~~
bitxbitxbitcoin
Fret not. He can invest in something else to cure that disappointment.

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edoo
Having to vet the source of the children's blood you vampire like transfuse
yourself with sounds like a billionaire problem.

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e12e
As far as I can tell, Bloomberg didn't actually link to an official statement,
but the Verge did:

[https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/u...](https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm631568.htm)

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pkaye
Also I think if you ever need a kidney transplants, all the antibodies in your
system from blood transfusions may make it hard to find a match.

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warp_factor
I would be scared to inject myself with someone else's blood without science
fully understanding what is going on yet.

~~~
whatshisface
If you had dementia you would be even more scared. That's why quack medicine
can survive in a world where rational information is available, it is
terrifying to die.

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GreeniFi
Business idea: wooden stakes for sale!!! I’ll make a killing.

Call me old fashioned, but I can’t believe this is a thing.

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floatboth
FDA subtweeting Larry Ellison here

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jotm
Hey, stop putting blood boys out of their jobs!

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newyankee
this reads like an onion article but the skeptic in me suggests the rich know
something we do not.

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Junk_Collector
It has really come down to this. The FDA has to warn people that it is a bad
idea to inject yourselves with other peoples blood.

I like the idea though. For centuries we've had motif's of the "evil queen"
bathing in the blood of innocents to rejuvenate herself. Now in modern times
we can move past the idea of wealthy elderly capitalistic vampires sucking the
youth out of people indirectly to becoming literal vampires sucking the life
out of the young directly.

~~~
bdamm
As a once-young person I would not have had any problem selling my blood a
pint at a time to help an elderly person feel rejuvenated, assuming that it
worked and I was being paid for it. After all, I often gave away my blood for
free, and go nothing in return except some juice, cookies, and a smile.

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danilocesar
Sounds like 2019 tech vampires...

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CommieBobDole
The statement says that there's no clinically-proven benefits. Have there been
any clinical studies?

