People with family histories of blood disease, for example, could benefit greatly from a private supply of compatible blood cells. Mixed-ethnicity children could also stand to benefit, since this population often experiences difficulty finding genetically compatible donors for organs or bone marrow (Peterson 56).
The sad reality is that despite its many benefits, the use of stem cells from umbilical cords is hampered by a lack of supply. There are private banks that extract and store a baby's umbilical stem cells for private use, but the costs are too prohibitive for most families. For many private banks, parents have to pay $1,300 up front for the extraction, and an additional $95 each year for storage. Also, many parents are simply unaware of the importance of umbilical stem cells. Sprage, a beneficiary of a cord stem cell transplantation, finds it disturbing that "most cord blood ends up as medical waste." (Peterson 56). Furthermore, private banking limits the use of cord blood cells to families, and does not cater to a wider audience.
An obvious solution to this dilemma is public cord-blood banks, which are funded by the government and available for everyone to use. Umbilical cords should be automatically collected at the hospital, while allowing for parents to extract blood for private cord banking if they wish. The collected umbilical cords can then be stored at various public umbilical cord banks across the country, and be retrieved as necessary. A national cataloging system could further ensure that a Missouri resident who needs stem cells could possibly find a genetic match in a public cord bank in California (Smith 88).
Already the Lower House of Congress has signified its agreement, by passing the Bone Marrow and Cord Blood Therapy and Research Act of 2005. This bill is still pending in the Senate. If approved, the bill would establish a system of umbilical cord...
References Condic, M.L. (2007, January). What We Know about Embryonic Stem Cells. First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life 25+. Patel, K., & Rushefsky, M. (2005). President Bush and Stem Cell Policy: The Politics of Policy Making. White House Studies, 5(1), 37+. Pickrell, J. (2006, September). "Instant Expert: Stem Cells." NewScientist.com news service. Retrieved on March 4, 2007 at http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/stem-cells/dn9982 Shapiro, R.S. (2006). Bioethics and the Stem Cell Research Debate. Social
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