There seems to be a raging debate going on right now over cord blood. Not whether or not cord blood can benefit people because most medical professionals agree that the stem cells found in cord blood can be of great benefit for a host of illnesses from sickle cell anemia to leukemia. In fact, recent research suggests that stem cells may be able to successfully treat over 70 diseases. The debate seems to be who the cord blood can benefit.
In order to clearly understand the debate, it helps to know exactly what cord blood is and why it is considered so special. Cord blood is blood that is taken from the umbilical cord of newborn babies immediately after birth. Since the baby is all ready born and no longer needs the cord for nutrients, taking this blood does not hurt either the mother or the child and in fact, if the cord blood is not taken it simply remains in the cord and is disposed of.
Cord blood is considered important because it contains stem cells which are building block of the entire immune system. When people suffer from diseases of the immune system using cord blood could help build up the immune system to help fight the disease.
The Push For Cord Blood Storage
In recent years there pregnant women have been inundated through pamphlets, magazines articles, and other types of media claiming that saving their babies cord blood could save their child or a family member at some future date.
These articles and stories play heavily on a mother’s desire to protect her child and the rest of the family and uses heavy handed tactics to make them feel guilty and less of parent if they don’t pay the $1000 or more initial fee to have this blood taken and stored and then continue to pay $100.00 a year to keep it stored for the future.
What these articles and such produced by private blood banks don’t tell these women is that there is little chance that their family will ever use this cord blood. This is where the heated debate comes in. Doctors across the country compare these private blood banks to snake oil salesmen claiming they pray on pregnant women and couples to turn a profit for something that will never be used.
How Cord Blood Really Benefits People
The true benefits of cord blood is not in storing it in a private blood bank where you may spend 20 years paying fees for something that will not ever be used, but, in a public bank where this blood may be used by those who desperately need it, when they need it. Many doctors point out that donated cord blood to public blood banks won’t cost the parents a penny.
Because cord blood does not have to be a perfect match to the recipients blood, it is easier for people needing the stem cells to find a match and since these stem cells come from infants whose immune system is not developed at the time, there is less likelihood of the this blood battling against the recipients old blood and causing complications from rejections.
However, due to the lack of cord blood donations in public blood banks, people still remain on waiting lists while cord blood that may match a needy patient sits unused in private blood banks.
To make matters worse, since cord blood collection is still somewhat new, not every hospital is qualified to collect this blood. It is estimated that somewhere between 75 and 90% of parents cannot donate their babies cord blood simply because of where they live.
As more and more conditions are helped by the stem cells in cord blood, and as the demand increases this will change but, change as always is slow. However, the real benefits of cord blood will never truly be realized until there is enough cord blood available for all those who need it.
Private blood banks
In the meantime, private blood banks will continue to frighten expectant parents and collect their fat fees while people who may have benefited from that privately stored cord blood continue to wait and hope for matching cord blood to become available that will benefit them.
While some minute portion of these families may eventually use this privately stored cord blood for the majority of these families they will be out thousands of dollars, and in the end, the cord blood will be of no benefit to anyone.