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Since the 1980s when the first umbilical cord blood was successfully used to donate stem cells to a needy patient, cord blood banks have been in existence. Cord blood banks are places that have the capacity to store umbilical cord blood for later use. In order to keep umbilical cord blood and the beneficial stem cells within it viable, the sample must be slowly cooled to -90 C and then it is stored at -196C in a liquid nitrogen tank. The cord blood can be held indefinitely at this temperature. This is excellent technology, however, as this new technology developed, so did the controversy surrounding umbilical cord blood storage.
The main controversy with cord banks surrounds the development of Private Cord Blood Banks. Private cord blood banks exist for the purpose of storing one's own child's umbilical cord blood for later use for her, or another family member. Private cord blood banks provide this storage service for a fee, an often very high fee ($1,000 - $2,000 for processing and $100 - $200/month storage fee). Seems fair enough right? Well, the problem lies with the fact that many doctors have stated that using one's own umbilical cord blood for treatment purposes (autologous treatment) isn't advisable. Stem cells from an unrelated donor (allogenic treatment) have the highest success rate for curing illness. Not to mention the fact that if a patient’s own umbilical cord blood is used for the treatment of some illnesses, the disease cells are already present at birth and are contained within the stored cord blood. In addition, doctors report that the majority of families will never need to use the stored umbilical cord blood, and if they do, there are public cord blood banks that can provide the needed treatment in a more effective way.
Another issue many have with private cord blood banks is, what happens if a private cord blood bank goes out of business; what happens to the umbilical cord blood stored there? Does the family get a refund if the sample can no longer be stored at that facility? No business can be guaranteed to last forever. There is also the issue of who "owns" the stored cord blood. Many of the contracts private cord blood banks use aren't as specific as they need to be and this often leaves the possibility open for the potential that the stored umbilical cord blood could be used in ways not approved of by the customer for things like cloning, research and/or sale.
Because of this controversy surrounding the storage of umbilical cord blood, some countries have limited storage options to public cord blood banks (non-profit agencies that store donated umbilical cord blood) only. This way umbilical cord blood can remain a treatment option for those who need it, but the controversy will be reduced and the oversight can be more reliable.
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