Parents must donate newborn cord blood

Chicago Parenting Examiner ^ | 01.25.09 | Janelle Lanter Brown

[Coleus]

After birth, the umbilical cord and placenta are usually discarded as waste. But, the umbilical cord holds something extremely precious—stem cells. These stem cells have become standard therapy for serious diseases such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and other immune system diseases (1). These stem cells are valuable because of their ability to develop into almost any type of cell in the body.

Parents have two cord blood banking options. The first option is preserving your child’s stem cells in a private bank so the cells are available for the family’s personal use. The initial fees range between $1000-$3000. There are also yearly storage fees. It is important that parents check to make sure the bank they use is approved by either The American Association of Blood Banking or the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy.

Even though this is a personal choice, the American Academy of Pediatrics estimates the chance of a child needing his or her own cord blood stem cells in the future range from one in 1,000 to one in 200,000.  The best choice is donating your baby’s cord blood to a public blood bank. The stem cells would then be available for use by anyone who needs them and is a “match” (1). Please talk to your doctor about the donating procedure. Preparation is involved. A questionnaire is filled out before delivery and the cord blood collection kit is mailed to your home. The kit must be brought to the hospital the day of delivery. On a personal note, we donated my youngest daughter’s cord blood. When my daughter was five months old, the public cord blood bank contacted me to ask some health related questions. The bank planned to use my daughter’s cord blood to help a patient. Donation is the best choice. Even though this is a personal issue, donation might save a life!

 

(1)http://chicagoparent.com/article.asp?aID=45694733.4463465.69784.1391522.2779592.647&aID2=5359

For more information: 

To read a story in Chicago Parent about cord blood banking click below.
http://chicagoparent.com/article.asp?aID=45694733.4463465.69784.1391522.2779592.647&aID2=5359

To read a website about cord blood banking click below.

http://parentsguidecordblood.org

[DBCJR]

That makes a lot more sense than making aborted tissue a commodity. Once value is allowed to be established on the tissue of aborted fetuses, we provide incentive to abort.

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

so if a woman chooses NOT to donate where does the cord and stem cells within go?
Aren’t hospitals to be made an accounting of?

[APRPEH]

Cord Blood Registry

[goat granny]

Some hospitals freeze afterbirth and it is sold to pharmacological company's..I have personally seen them in hospital freezers...

[Notwithstanding]

Your headline is inaccurate when it uses the word “MUST”.

“SHOULD” would have been correct.

[Coleus]

so if a woman chooses NOT to donate where does the cord and stem cells within go? >>>

with the rest of the medical waste, the same place aborted babies go too.

[Edizzl79]

So whats the problem, Ive never known any parents to keep the cord?! And if they can use something they would normally put in the trash, go for it.

[Dianna]

My last baby was born 10 years ago. At that time, IIRC you could donate cord blood but there were fees involved. I hope that has changed, but make sure you ask, just in case.

[knarf]

It’s been years, but I remember a jar of some kind of hair treatment my wife had purchased that had, as an ingredient, placenta.

[Zack Attack]

So whats the problem, Ive never known any parents to keep the cord?!

Some will, for religious or other reasons, not cut the cord and leave it attached until it dries up and separates on its' own. Never seen that but a friend whose wife works as a midwife explained it one time.