Yep. I jumped to the exact same conclusion. I did a quick search to see what was out there and I came across this article from 2008 talking about a few such companies and how it was being discounted by many scientists as not likely to be useful:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/health/29stem.html?pagewan...
At least a couple of the companies mentioned in that article appear to be out of business. The prices quoted back then are non-trivial for middle class Americans.
It still seems like the sort of thing that might be worth the expense. If they come up with the solution when I'm 80, but I don't have any source of young stem cells to rely on...
This really isn't worth worrying about. I know it seems like a Pascal's wager scenario but "youth of stem cells" isn't a problem. We know how to lengthen telomeres (hTERT) and generating human iPSCs is a routine procedure.
At least a couple of the companies mentioned in that article appear to be out of business. The prices quoted back then are non-trivial for middle class Americans.
It still seems like the sort of thing that might be worth the expense. If they come up with the solution when I'm 80, but I don't have any source of young stem cells to rely on...
Same goes doubly for my kids.