Free Republic

ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- Congress on Friday agreed to establish a national databank of umbilical cord blood and bone marrow that would allow doctors to quickly find a match for patients who need a transplant. The Senate passed the bill by voice vote. The House passed the bill in May by a vote of 431-1. The bill will provide $79 million in federal funding to increase the number of cord blood units available for matches. The objective is 150,000 units, which would mean 90 percent of patients needing them would have a match. It also reauthorizes the national bone marrow...

Scientists, Cord Blood Transplant Recipients Call on Senate to Pass S681 Establishing National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank Network; Bill Would Create More Options for Critically Ill Patients WASHINGTON, April 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- New York Blood Center's (NYBC) President and CEO, Robert L. Jones, M.D., its National Cord Blood Program Director, Pablo Rubinstein, M.D., cord blood transplant recipients, will join Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) -- a strong supporter of improving the options of patients who need transplants -- at a Senate Briefing on Monday, April 4 to urge passage of the Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2005...