6 arrested over illegal umbilical blood administration

August 27, 2017

TOKYO- Police on Sunday arrested six people, including a doctor, for their alleged involvement in illegal administration of umbilical cord blood to patients in Tokyo and elsewhere.

A joint investigative team set up by Ehime and other police suspect the six violated the law for the safety of regenerative medicine. This is believed to be the first case in which violation of the law is suspected.

Arrested were Tsuneo Shinozaki, 52, head of a company based in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, that sold the umbilical cord blood, his 50-year-old wife, Nobuko, and Shinsuke Shuto of Tokyo, a 40-year-old doctor who administered the blood without making required notification.

The remainder included Shusuke Tsubo, 60, of Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, and Minako Inoue, 59, of Fukuoka, who have headed medicine-related entities in Kyoto and Fukuoka prefectures that bought umbilical cord blood from the Tsukuba-based company. Tsubo is also executive at the Umbilical Cord Blood Association, a nonprofit organization.

Shinozaki, Shuto and others are suspected of their involvement in transplanting umbilical cord blood to four people at a Tokyo medical institution roughly between July last year and April this year without submitting legally required plans for regenerative medical treatment procedures to the health ministry.

Suspects including Shinozaki and Tsubo were allegedly involved in transplanting umbilical cord blood to three people at medical institutions in the cities of Osaka and Kyoto roughly between February last year and April this year.

Umbilical cord blood, rich in stem cells that develop into various tissue, is used to treat leukemia and many other diseases.

The blood used in this case came from a Tsukuba-based private umbilical cord blood bank that went bankrupt in 2009.

Between May and June this year, the health ministry conducted spot inspections on clinics and other places in Tokyo as well as Osaka, Fukuoka and Ehime prefectures, ordering 12 institutions to suspend the use of the blood.

Medical procedures using other people's blood are risky because they could result in HIV and hepatitis infections and cause rejection reactions, a health ministry official has said, stressing the need to make required notifications to the authorities.

The 12 institutions administered umbilical cord blood to a total of 69 people without taking legally required procedures, informed sources said. No health damage has been reported so far. Jiji Press