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Two hands shaking with black sleeves and a computer and notepads in the background.

One day last March, Kristin Comella took to the podium at a conference sponsored by the Academy of Regenerative Practices to talk about the marvels of stem cell-based therapies and the challenges facing its pioneers.

"In fields where you're starting to do a new paradigm and bringing something forward that is a disrupter," she said, "there's always going to be naysayers." She cited several treatment advances achievable through stem cells, and attacked the Food and Drug Administration, which has set restrictive guidelines on the treatments she advocates.

"Why would the FDA regulate our own body?" she asked. "The fact that I have to say this out loud as a question is insane." She closed with an appeal for contributions for a "legal defense fund" to fight the FDA: "At this point it is on us to help educate the regulators."

The government needs to be careful not to create an avenue by which people can be scammed.

It was a bravura performance by Comella, 41, who is the founder and president of the academy — crowd-pleasing, shot through with what...