> The blood only keeps for ten years
Not true. Cord blood stem cells
can be stored indefinitely:
The New York State Health Department Guidelines for cord blood banking state that umbilical stem cells can be stored indefinitely under liquid nitrogen. The policy states, "There is no evidence at present that cells stored at -196C in an undisturbed manner lose either in-vitro determined viability or biologic activity. Therefore, at the current time, no expiration date need be assigned to cord blood stored continuously under liquid nitrogen." Current data reflects that cord blood cells that have been stored for fifteen years have the same composition as they did at the time of storage.(3) All science involving cryogenic storage of cells also indicates that the cells should remain viable indefinitely.
> the amount of blood in one umbilical cord isn't enough to treat an adult with
Also not true. The cord blood
CAN be used by adults:
To date, umbilical cord blood has been used in more than 8,000 transplants for children and adults. In many cases, the cord blood was used by the baby's sibling. Other transplants have occurred for the newborn himself, the newborn's mother, father, and the newborn's cousin.
Some other poster said they couldn't be used for much, but CBR lists
close to 100 diseases you can use cord blood treatments for.
And on the topic of the AAP article about why private banking is bad,
this is from the AAP site:
. What is the difference between private cord blood banking and public cord blood banking?
Private cord blood banking is storing the baby's cord blood for his/her own future use or use for a family member should the need arise. Alternatively, public cord blood banking, or donating, means that the baby's cord blood is stored in a cord blood bank and is available to anyone in need of a transplant or may be used research purposes.
So the big difference is that if you donate it to a public bank, you might not get it back. Versus if you store it privately, it is yours forever.
Don't blame the private banks for the lack of cord blood in the public ones. There would be plenty of cord blood to go around
if the hospitals banked it themselves:
Currently, only a small percentage of the four million births every year in the U.S. result in family-banked cord blood, and even if that percentage increases, there will always be a generous cord blood supply for the public banks-if funding is available. More than 90 percent of families do not have access to a public cord blood bank that accepts donations. Other factors also significantly limit cord blood donation eligibility, such as maternal exposure to viruses, tattoos, and international travel. In fact, recent reports from public banks convey that only 30 percent of donated cord blood ends up being banked. The limited cord blood supply in public banks is 100 percent due to lack of funding-not private banks.
Here are the options that I would say you base your decision on:
1. Do you have the funds?
2. If your kid gets sick later in life and you didn't have it, will you be ok or will you freak out and obsess over not having banked it?
3. Are you ok with the odds that your kid won't get sick? The odds are that you WON'T need it, so if you're not a #2, then you will probably be ok.
4. What's your opinion on stem cell research? If you think it's bad, then pay for your own private stem cell storage. Otherwise vote YES on laws making it legal for states to do stem cell research so the hospitals and public banks can get more government funding.
I have three kids, and we went with a private bank for all three, but couldn't get enough from one of their cords so we are only paying for two.
It is good for peace of mind, but NOT CHEAP.
