In Britain, over ninety couples have forked out 1,500 pounds just to have their child's umbilical cord blood stored, as it preserves the coveted (cell producing) stem cells that may one day be used in order to cure a range of medical circumstances.
As of today, cord blood has simply been used as a way to assist in curing conditions such as leukaemia along with other blood diseases that would otherwise need "ordinary" stem cell transplants from bone marrow. But researchers will be looking into the deployment of cord blood in stem cell treatments for a range of other diseases.
A few sicknesses that may one day be treated with stem cells are Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury, diabetes, arthritis, stroke, heart disease, cancers, and Parkinson's disease. There are various cord blood banks located in the United Kingdom, one in London, Liverpool, Wirral, and Cardiff. However, any cord blood donated to public sector banks is on a similar basis as blood donation and won't be insured for consumption by the family involved.
Curious families therefore have to pay for personalized storing, unless of course the cord blood is expected to be used in a medical treatment for an ill family member. But the personalized service is not cheap. The program usually costs around 1,000 pounds for 21 years worth of storage - a worth which several scientists continue to say is not worth the price.
It is accurate to note however, that to individuals who have moral issues with the most common method of stem cell transfer (fetal extraction), cord blood continues to grow as the only viable alternative to acquire both the perks of cell regrowth, and life protection.
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