The Connecticut General Assembly is currently debating whether or not the state should have a public cord bank.
Cord blood is the blood that remains in a baby’s umbilical cord after delivery. Stem cells are called the “building blocks of life” because they can become virtually any cell, tissue or organ in your body. For example, during a stem cell transplant (a common treatment for certain cancers like leukemia), transplanted stem cells regenerate into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, and help restore a healthy blood and immune system..
State Senator Leonard A. Fasano, (a Republican from North Haven), is one of the legislators who is working toward a public bank for Connecticut. In early February, Fasano and other legislators invited medical professionals to a forum to discuss how private cord blood banking would work. He hopes to present legislation for a public cord blood bank next January.
Currently, there is only one bank in the state. The privately owned bank takes in 60-70 samples a month and the protected samples can only be used by the person who donated them thus insuring availability to the samples when-ever needed by the person who stored them.
A public bank would allow anyone to access the cord blood and public banks also donate the stored blood to science. Would you prefer to know that your cord blood is safe and available to you at anytime, or risk not knowing when or where cord blood will come from to aid your child?
Xytex, a private bank, processes and stores cord blood from across the United States and is available to any person who wishes to protect the value of their child’s cord blood thus insuring an instant match when their child is in need of a cord blood treatment.
Tags: blood, cord blood bank, Cord Blood Banking, cord blood education, cord blood stem cells, Cryopreservation, Egg Donation, genetics, healthy baby, umbilical cord, xytex, Xytex Press Releases, Xytex Xtra Newsletter
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