Public Cord Blood Banking

Public cord blood banking has received widespread attention in the recent past. As would-be parents, you will be called upon to make a decision on whether to utilize public cord blood banks or opt for private services for storing your baby's umbilical cord blood.

If you opt for this sort of banking, you will be storing cord blood for the benefit of the general public either for direct use by some patients or for indirect use by scientists for cord blood research. Such banks are also non-profit organizations and do not look at the bottom line when outlining the benefits for you and your baby.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has come out strongly in support of storing your baby's cord blood in public banks rather than using it as an insurance policy and storing the blood at private for-profit institutions.

In a statement issued on January 2, 2007, the AAP said it "encourages families to donate their newborn’s cord blood, which is normally discarded at birth, to cord blood banks (if accessible in their area) for use by other individuals in need. Storing cord blood at private banks for later personal or family use as a general “insurance policy” is discouraged."

The merits of public cord blood banking are many. Some of them are outlined below:
1) It is highly unlikely that your baby will need cord blood during childhood or later unless some rare disease is present in the family history.

2) By donating cord blood for public usage, you are contributing to a program that is directed for the general welfare and could help scientists decipher the puzzle presented by hitherto incurable diseases.

3) More often than not, even if you child has some genetic defect, using the baby's own cord blood is not advisable as it is predicted that the blood would contain similar genetic defects.

However there are some disadvantages of banking cord blood for public use. It is very rare that the donor will have cord blood available should the need arise in future. Public cord blood banks do receive state support, but are generally short of finances because they do not get enough money when selling the stored cord blood to third parties.

Furthermore public banks will have to bear the cost of cord blood storage, which runs into thousands of dollars.

Nevertheless the medical community backs Public banking. In a letter appearing in the June 2005 issue of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Jeffrey L. Ecker and Michael F. Greene say public umbilical cord blood banking makes economical sense, "We foresee a day in which most patients will volunteer their cord blood to such banks. Those who do so will value real public benefits against the sometimes, exaggerated claims of individual benefits advanced by private cord blood banks," they wrote.

Public cord blood banking is not only an altruistic move, but also a sensible move on your part as parents. You will be a part of the crusade against genetic diseases and incurable diseases like cancer if you decide to go for public banks rather than private ones and make your baby's cord blood available for use to needy people or even in research.

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