Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

Why are parents banking umbilical cord blood? And should one think about offering it for research?

*Detailed explanation please?

Public Comments

1. Cord blood contains stem cells which have the potential to treat diseases that the child may face in the future. So parent are banking it in case they need stem cells for their child. As far as offering it for research, that is up to the parents.
2. We banked our last child's umbilical cord blood just in case. The main reason would be if there are health problems in the future with that child, or any other person in your family. Researchers are finding many ways that it can help almost anyone with various diseases. We chose a blood bank to store ours with, and there is a pretty hefty fee involved. There are places where one can donate it, which is what I looked into first. The problem was that the area where we lived the hospital was not involved with the University or any place that took donations of cord blood, which is just a shame. I do know that at this point Viacord, which is a cord blood bank, is looking into research of cord blood and juvenile diabetes. I do feel that donation of cord blood is a very good thing. That way anyone can use something that is normally just thrown away and/or researchers could use it to find cures or treatments to many diseases. This would be a great thing for many hospitals/universities to start implementing for research or what have you. Although, if your child turns out to have a genetic disease and you stored cord blood, you probably could not use that blood. I do not know enough about genetics to answer anything about that.
3. umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells