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teachingmyown
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| Posted: March 21 2006 at 5:46pm | IP Logged
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I am looking for information on cord blood companies. This is the first time we are planning on having the baby's cord blood stored and I want to pick the right company.
I am particularly concerned about the ethical aspect of these companies, whether some of them participate in unethical research, such as stem-cell research. I don't know if this is even an issue with these companies, just a thought that I had. And I am not sure where to find such information.
Anyone have any input?
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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humanaevitae
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| Posted: April 16 2006 at 10:58pm | IP Logged
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I would also be interested in information.
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Nicole-Zane 10, Elizabeth 7, Xavier 4, and John Patrick 2
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almamater
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| Posted: April 16 2006 at 11:33pm | IP Logged
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Why do you want to bank cord blood?
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~jennifer in tx
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teachingmyown
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When you bank the baby's cord blood, it can be used for treatment later if your baby or any of it's siblings gets an illness, such as cancer. They use the cells, I have not really studied the science of it, but I know it can be life-saving. It is such a simple thing to do and the benefits are tremendous if you should ever need it.
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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SaraP
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All (or almost all) of the cord blood banking companies have parent companies who participate in umbilical stem cell research, but that is whole point of collecting and banking cord blood and isn't unethical in the least. So I think what you are wondering is if some are also involved in embryonic stem cell research (which is NOT ethical or moral).
Have you tried contacting Human Life International or American Life League and asking them for information? I think both organizations maintain boycott lists so they might know if there are cord blood banking companies to watch out for.
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teachingmyown
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I chose one that as far as I could tell is not involved in research. Now, I don't know if they have a parent company, but other companies did state that they had a research side of the company so I avoided those.
Thanks Sara, I wish I had thought to call one of those associations first.
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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almamater
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| Posted: April 19 2006 at 11:41am | IP Logged
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I know what the cord blood is for, but just wondered if you had a specific family history that prompted you to want to do this.
As this subject comes up in my childbirth classes occasionally, I was interested to watch an hour long Nightline episode on this topic not too long ago. I can tell you that the pediatric blood specialists that were featured on the show strongly discouraged people from using private blood banks at this time. Yes, there are many diseases that can be treated and the science is moving fast, but he says these places are charging ridiculous amounts of money and there are many questions remaining. Rather, there is a very strong effort to starting building community cord blood banks (a few already exist) where someone who wasn't allowing the blood to go directly to the baby at birth would automatically give their blood to a community bank. The storage would be "free" to the patient and the blood would be available to anyone who needed it.
Incidentally, there is a significant amount of blood that transfers to the baby if the cord is allowed to pulse and stop spontaneously. While the future benefits may be of tremendous value, we have always allowed the baby to get all of the blood at birth. Standard procedure in hospitals is to clamp and cut immediately and then dispose of the "medical waste." If it is going to be "wasted" I would rather see it go into a community bank, for sure.
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almamater
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| Posted: April 20 2006 at 6:11pm | IP Logged
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just bumping it up
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~jennifer in tx
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teachingmyown
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Jennifer,
I was interested and a little surprised at what you said in your post, as everything I have heard about cord blood storage has been very positive.
I don't have any personal history that prompted us to preserve the baby's blood. But from what I have read and the doctors I have talked to, I felt it would be careless and wasteful to not do it. My midwife said that she really encourages it and would insist that her own children bank their babies cord blood.
My question about the public banks is what if the blood is used by someone else and then we need it? I am not sure I understand the objections of the blood specialists. My understanding is that many families have benefitted tremendously from this process. It may seem like a lot of money, but it's not more than I would pay for a swing set, and I look at it as an insurance policy that I hope to never use.
I see your point about letting the baby get as much blood as possible, but is the amount really that significant? I really don't know much about that although I did work briefly as an L&D nurse and don't remember it ever discussed.
Thanks for your input. I guess it is something I could have researched more thorougly, but I am working with only one brain cell these days! 
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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almamater
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| Posted: April 20 2006 at 9:05pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
I only have a minute right now, but hereis the link to prchase the Nightline transcript, if you are interested.
The community blood bank is a central storage system for donated blood from which whoever needs the cord blood can draw. Your babies blood would be available for whoever needs it and if you or your child ever needed blood, it would be there for you...just not your specific blood.
I will look up an old article I have that states how much blood the baby receives when the clamping and cutting is delayed. Are you using a CNM in a hospital or a home birth midwife? (Just curious)
I agree, though, if you are not going to let the blood go to baby, you may as well consider banking it. I really thought the nightline show was well done, though it does not discuss any advantage to allowing the placental transferral to occur.
I really have to run now, but this is a really interesting topic, I think. Glad we can discuss it!
Pax Christi!
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~jennifer in tx
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