Stem cells and cosmetic ingredients

I've never thought stem cells in the cosmetic industry were anything but a marketing story. I have been, and remain, highly skeptical of the claims made by raw material suppliers who claim their stem cell derived cosmetic actives have any real noticeable consumer benefit beyond standard miniaturization. As such, I've never thought much of the technology.

But I attended a talk today by Sonia Dawson of Sederma about their stem cell technology and I've developed a different outlook.

No, I'm not convinced of the specific consumer benefits of these raw materials. However I am convinced that using stem cells to produce plant derived cosmetic ingredients is a great way to create sustainable materials. You can create a consistent raw material that doesn't require nearly as much land, water, or other resources. This overcomes my objection to most plant based cosmetic raw materials...it's not taking away food producing land to make cosmetic ingredients.

Is it natural?

A question does occur to me however. If you create a raw material using stem cells in a lab, is that still considered a "natural" ingredient?

What do you think?