Random ramblings of an Oncology trainee

Cord banking

I was interested to learn that the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy encouraging parents to donate their newborn's cord blood to public cord banks (Pediatrics. 2007;119:165-170).

Finally, a coherent and sensible policy by a well-respected organization. One of my pet-peeves has been the shameless exploitation of new parents by Private Cord Banks. These for-profit companies make profit off the fear of these parents during an emotionally vulnerable time. Which new parent wouldn't be fearful of a potentially fatal disease that could strike their precious child, regardless of the actual likelihood of that disease being one that would benefit from stored cord stem cells.

These private cord banks market their services as an insurance policy in the event that the child could need it in the future. That to me is like paying expensive insurance to cover one's child from the unlikely event of getting struck by lightning. I am sure the Private Cord Banks never let out the dirty little secret that they almost never have to retrive stored cord blood.

A more rational approach would be to store as many newborn's cords as possible in public cord banks, in order to benefit as many people as possible. Obviously this brings up the issue of who would then pay the cost of storing these cord blood. Hopefully with better technology and increased volume, the actual cost would decrease. There are already public cord banks scattered around the US. Maybe one day, Malaysia will have a National Public Cord Bank Foundation to champion its cause.

posted by antatosh @ 6:14 PM