Types of Cord Blood Banks

There are three types of cord blood banks. These types are

· Non - Profit Public Bank
· For- Profit Public Bank
· Private Bank

Each type of bank has its various advantages and disadvantages, costs and other features.

Non-Profit Public Cord Blood Banks:

The public domain and not a company own a non-profit public bank. As a result, blood that is stored in a non-profit bank has been donated and is therefore not owned by the parents who donated it but rather by the bank. The blood is stored for free as it is placed on a donor registry, the NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program) that is a registry of donors that can be accessed by medical professionals for use in transplants or other research.

For-Profit Public Cord Blood Bank:

For-profit public banks at first glance look like traditional non-profit blood banks, because they will accept your donation for free. The problem though with this type of bank is that it is not possible to make a profit banking cord blood for transplants, because the odds of use are so low. In order to make a profit the bank sells the cord blood for research.

There is a great deal of research being done with stem cells, and this makes cord blood very desirable to laboratories. The practice of selling this freely donated blood is legal in the United States, although it isn�t legal in many European countries.

There are several ethical issues with for-profit public banks. They appeal to parents by presenting statistics on the great need of patients for cord blood. In fact, these donations are sold to laboratories within a matter of weeks. Also, parents are sometimes led to believe that their cord blood can be taken out for their own use. The probability that this will happen is very small.

Lastly, for-profit public banks also pose a serious ethical concern to parents in that they may not feel comfortable donating their child's stem cells to a corporation that will attempt to use them to make a profit for their investors.

Private Cord Blood Bank:

A private bank is what it sounds like; private and not state owned. A private bank charges parents to store their child�s cord blood after birth for a fee anywhere between $300 and $1,835, depending on which bank you store the blood at.

Storing cord blood this way means that the blood is solely owned by the parents and is not used for research or put on a registry and is therefore available in the future if the child, or a relative, requires a transplant of any sort.

Although the attractiveness of owning the cord blood, for use later is very high, it is also important to note that even though the blood is owned by the parent and can be used at any time the blood may not in fact be suitable for a transplant when needed. This is because when a blood product is stored for public use it is subjected to very rigorous testing. A sample that fails any test would be "discarded" and this number is as high as 40% of all samples. Private banks skip many of these tests and If the day ever comes that you want to transplant a private sample, you may find that the transplant physician does not want to use it because it fails a test (ex: presence of contaminating bacteria, or Hepatitis virus, etc.)

When looking into Cord Blood banking it is important to know exactly what you want and to find out what each of the banks policies are on the following questions:

· Collection of UCB
· Shipping & Handling
· Laboratory Testing
· Accreditation
· Processing
· Storage Facility
· Company Stability
· Consumer Rights
· Price protection

Cord Partners� is an umbilical cord blood banking company who believes partnering with our clients for personal cord blood stem cells storage, is essential to securing every family�s future health. Free cord blood preservation and stem cells information available by completing the form below.

 

What are you planning to do with your baby�s umbilical cord? Find out why thousands of moms are banking their baby�s cord blood. Click the link below to request more information about Cord Blood Banking - Cord Blood Registry provides an exceptional information packet to help you educate you on this incredible new discovery.