Cord Blood: What Are The Ethical Considerations? (Continued)

Statistical analysis shows that the chances of your child requiring access to cord blood HPC transplantation is very slim. The vast majority of parents who store their child's cord blood - roughly 97 percent - will never need to access it. Some suggest that even if your child develops a condition which would warrant any form of stem cell treatment, that there are still other means to obtain the necessary stem cells from either family donors, your child's own bone marrow, or even a public bank.  Parents must undertake a cost-benefit analysis when deciding whether to store cord blood with a private institution.  If, for example, your family has a history of medical conditions where the use of cord blood would be beneficial, then perhaps it might be the right course of action to consider storing your baby's cord blood.  Additionally, if there is some detection by your obstetrician during the initial stages of your pregnancy of a possible medical condition which might benefit from stored cord blood, then this would certainly factor into your decision making process.  

If you have seriously considered all your options and feel that storing cord blood is the right decision for your family, there are certain advantages that private banks offer over public banks, specifically the assurance that children will have direct access to their samples should the medical need ever arise.  This cannot be said of public banks, and therefore private cord blood banks have become lucrative business, but again, largely through misleading advertising and marketing.  It should be noted that all cord blood banks operate under the auspices of the relevant federal agencies in most countries (the FDA in the United States, Health Canada, and the Human Tissue Authority in the UK).

However, even if you store your child's cord blood through a private facility, know that there are limitation on to how long it can remain in a viable state.  While the data available is sparse, due to the fact that cord blood storage is a relatively new procedure, it can be said with some certainty that cord blood will remain viable in cryopreservation for at least 10 years, with some evidence to suggest that it can be maintained for upwards of 20 years.  As most childhood cancers will attack the body within the first 15 years, there is some hope that cord blood storage can be an effective method for maintaining a first line defence for your child's future.

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