Embryonic stem cells sold on black market for plastic surgery

Eight people were found guilty in the City Court in Budapest, Hungary, of selling embryonic stem cells from aborted babies in the black market for use in creating cosmetics. The stem cells were used at a plastic surgery clinic where patients paid $25,000 per treatment.

Alliance Defending Freedom filed a brief in the case stating that European law stipulates that life begins at conception and the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that human embryos are not to be used for industrial or commercial purposes.

Sentences for the eight suspects varied based on the extent of their role in the scheme. In 2009, a Switzerland-based firm admitted using the aborted baby cells in skin-care products. The same was true for a San Francisco firm in 2012, and soda and food firms in the U.S. stopped using them for flavor testing.

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