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FDA warns company selling human poop by mail [1]

['Allan Rose Hill']

Date: 2024-06-25  

The United States Food and Drug Administration issued a formal warning against Human Microbes, a California company that describes itself as "the world's largest, highest quality stool donor bank." They sell human poop by mail and apparently lack a license to "lawfully market" these biological products, the FDA explained.

Fecal microbiota therapy, also known as a fecal transplant, is a medical procedure where stool from a healthy donor is transferred to a patient's gastrointestinal tract. It's currently used to treat certain gut infections by restoring healthy gut bacteria.

According to Human Microbes though, fecal microbiota transplants have "shown promising results in clinical trials for many other conditions such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), Parkinson's disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), multiple sclerosis, autism, diabetes, and mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and bipolar. FMT may also have potential applications in the treatment of obesity, autoimmunity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and more."

The FBA told Human Microbes the jury is still out on those applications and the company must review its website offerings and marketing materials to ensure compliance. Human Microbes founder Michael Harrop stated that he had previously "contacted the FDA about getting approved for an IND (investigational new drug) application and never heard back.

"So I continued as is," he said.

Harrop has meeting with the FDA next month. Meanwhile, the company continues to seek high-quality stool donors at the rate of $500 per poop.

(via KSL.com)

Previously:

• Fecal transplant blamed in death

• Fecal transplants work in puppies too

• Placing other people's poop in your person is a piss-poor plan

• Turd transplant leads to rapid weight-gain and obesity

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