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BACKGROUND TO THE DEBATE: Umbilical cord blood--the blood that remains in the placenta after birth--can be collected and stored frozen for years. A well-accepted use of cord blood is as an alternative to bone marrow as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for allogeneic transplantation to siblings or to unrelated recipients; women can donate cord blood for unrelated recipients to public banks. However, private banks are now open that offer expectant parents the option to pay a fee for the chance to store cord blood for possible future use by that same child (autologous transplantation).

Original publication

DOI

10.1371/journal.pmed.0020044

Type

Journal article

Journal

PLoS Med

Publication Date

02/2005

Volume

2

Keywords

Blood Banks, Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation, Ethics, Medical, Fetal Blood, Humans, Private Sector, Specimen Handling, Transplantation, Autologous