By no longer allowing private companies to collect cord blood from new born babies (at request of the mother), this NHS Trust is removing the element of choice from mothers to decide what happens to their baby’s cord blood and condemning it to the incinerator.

(Please check out this Science So Sexy article to understand more about this HERE)

 

Umbilical cord blood is an increasingly valuable resource, as the richest and least invasive source of stem cells from the human body.  Women who decide to bank their child’s cord blood are offering their child future access to regenerative medicine, a new and exciting area of biomedical science.  The stem cells found in cord blood can be used to treat over 80 illnesses, a number which is likely to increase due to the 4,800 clinical trials taking place around the globe to investigate the capabilities of stem cells.

 

Stem cells found in cord blood can be used to treat blood disorders such as leukaemia, sickle cell anaemia and Fanconi anaemia, when looking to find a match in a public bank for a stem cell transplant for these illnesses the odds, at best, are 1:40,000.  When cord blood is stored privately, the child who has stored his/her cord blood has a 100% match waiting in the bank.  On top of that, the child will readily receive the cord blood as the body will recognise the cells as its own thus minimising the worry of rejection.

 

Cord blood can also be used to engineer tissues and organs; simple organs such as bladders have already been fully grown from stem cells and transplanted.  Again, offering another lifeline to those who have banked their cord blood and possibly revolutionising the organ donation register in the future as science in the field advances.

 

Cord blood can currently be used to treat over 80 illnesses including cerebral palsy.  Cerebral palsy has been without an effective treatment for many years, however cord blood infusions have dramatically revolutionised the lives of patients with cerebral palsy with documented cases of children being transformed from a vegetative state into children who, after an infusion, are mobile and can communicate; are reaching milestones more quickly than before the infusion and more quickly than other cerebral palsy patients.  Unfortunately cerebral palsy cannot be diagnosed before birth and cannot be effectively diagnosed until around 12 months of age, in addition to this cerebral palsy can be caused by illness or an accident after birth which results in loss of oxygen to the brain so disposal of the cord blood removes any access to effective treatment for these children. 

 

By removing mothers choice to bank their baby’s cord blood privately, this trust is taking away the opportunity for their children to access these treatments.  The odds of needing a stem cell transplant in a lifetime as of 2013 are 1:3 and there is only one opportunity to bank a baby’s cord blood.  Incidentally, cord blood can be stored indefinitely and can offer a potential match to others in the child’s family.

 

It is important to note that the Trusts are not required to have any role in the procurement of the cord blood other than to allow a member of staff from the cord blood company on site and give this member access to a suitable room to harvest the blood from the placenta and umbilical cord which would otherwise be disposed of.  The procurement of cord blood can only be of benefit to the NHS as our population ages.

 

The decision to remove access of private cord blood banks to this trust’s hospitals could also violate the mother and child’s human rights: Article 17.2 “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”

 

We are calling for the trust to reverse their decision to prohibit cord blood collection by private companies.  This flies against a House of Lords report to encourage the development of regenerative medicine in the UK and at a time when the NHS is purporting to deliver choice, undermines the ethos of a service who claim “NHS Choices - your health, your choices". After all, when it comes to your child’s health… where are your choices if procurement is not permitted?