Such a reputable outfit CYGS seems to be. Here's another oldie but goodie:
Fetus freezing firm spawns controversy
Darrin Schlegel Houston Business Journal
03/07/96
Houston Business Journal
(Copyright 1996)
A Houston company is touting a new abortion option that entails freezing an
aborted fetus for implantation at a more suitable time.
Under the process, fetal tissue can be aborted, cryopreserved and stored for
10 years at a cost of $356, claim officials with Cryogenic Solutions Inc.
There's only one hitch: The company has the technology to freeze the fetus,
but not to thaw and reanimate it.
"We know how to cryopreserve the tissue," contends Dell Gibson, the
company's vice president. "The problem is: How do we turn that tissue into a
living baby on the playground?"
Gibson, who says the firm has already begun storing tissue in its bank, may
be understating the company's problems.
Since Cryogenic Solutions announced plans to sell stock late last year,
criticism about the company's service has come from both the anti-abortion
and scientific communities.
"They're aborting babies and charging women money without any guarantee
that they can reanimate them," claims Dee Doughty, a spokeswoman for
Life Advocates in Houston.
Literature distributed by the company acknowledges that reanimation is not
yet a reality. But the same literature also assures customers that
researchers are confident they can eventually improve and refine technology
so that reimplantation and reanimation of the fetus can occur, either in the
original donor or an adoptive or surrogate mother.
The procedure is labeled an "alternative" to abortion. Physicians, however,
say that label is misleading.
"I don't think they can even represent to (women) that it's anything less than
final abortion," says Dr. John Buster, director of reproductive endocrinology
at Baylor College of Medicine.
In vitro fertilization experts have long known that embryonic cells frozen
before implantation on the uterus can be stored, thawed and implanted
successfully, Buster says. But there is only a six-day window after
conception for that to occur, he adds.
"After that, it has never been done successfully," Buster says.
Cryogenic Solutions is offering to extract cells from women in their 10th to
11th week of pregnancy _ long after the cells have implanted on the uterus.
Baylor's Buster says no research to date has proven that procedure can
work.
"But the thing that makes this intriguing to businesspeople is that you can't
prove that it can't be done; you just can't prove that it can be done," Buster
says.
Cryogenic Solutions believes it can be done _ and the company is willing
to spend money to prove the concept is feasible, Gibson says.
He says the firm has offered to fund research projects at several medical
schools, including Baylor, but has yet to find a willing participant.
Faculty at Houston's other medical school, The University of Texas-Houston
Health Science Center, declined to be interviewed on the subject, even
though Dr. Malcolm Skolnick, a professor at the school, is listed as a
director of Cryogenic Solutions .
Company officials also appear to be keeping a low profile. Chief Executive
Officer Charles Boyd refused to be photographed for this article, and Gibson
says the company's address is off limits to anyone except clients and
employees.
"We don't want people ambushing us with interviews like 'A Current Affair' (a
tabloid TV show)," says Gibson. "We just want to go about our business."
The firm, now traded over-the-counter on the Nasdaq Stock Market's bulletin
board, even seems to be distancing itself from its founder, Howard Turney.
The owner of a Houston company called El Dorado Rejuvenation & Longevity
Institute, Turney was recently interviewed by The Wall Street Journal
wearing nothing but a bathing suit. The 64-year-old Turney, whose company
distributes a human growth hormone out of Mexico, was attempting to show
the reporter that the hormone's alleged "anti-aging" therapy works.
In addition to Cryogenic Solutions and El Dorado, Turney has founded and
promoted a number of other businesses, including a hair salon featuring
stylists in hot pants.
Gibson, who has also started up numerous business ventures, says Turney
still owns stock in Cryogenic Solutions but plays no other role.
"He's never had any operational responsibility," Gibson says.
Despite the swirling controversy, Gibson is confident the company will
weather the storm. In an attempt to ward off negative publicity, the company
has issued a companion press release with its fact sheet that clearly states
where Cryogenic Solutions stands on the issue of abortion.
"Should an unwanted pregnancy occur," the press release states, "we
advocate birth. In those instances where the mother is unsuited for
motherhood, we advocate adoption. We condemn abortion as a means of
birth control.
"However, we recognize that in spite of the most sincere and vigorous efforts
of the anti-abortion advocates, over one and a half million women a year have
abortions. . . . Our goal is to see deserving, caring parents lovingly raising
happy, healthy babies that would otherwise be ashes."
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