North Carolina recently joined a number of other states to enact a cord blood education law, which helps departments of Health and Human Services educate the public regarding the preservation and future use of umbilical cord blood stem cells. Among others, the law ‘encourages’ physicians to make such information available to all pregnant parents so they can make informed decisions on  private or public blood banking systems.

The benefit of umbilical cord blood stem cells is vital when a child is faced with a medical illness or diseases. Since the placenta and umbilical cord have traditional been discarded, finding these cells increase the chances of survival when an individual is faced with cancers, blood diseases or other ailments.

Millions of parents have frozen and store their baby’s umbilical cord blood, and their numbers are growing. Stem cell research and development is entering an exciting era, and it is hoped that someday soon, multiple treatments for formerly incurable illnesses and disease processes will be discovered, making storage of umbilical cord blood stem cells invaluable.

Facilities such as EmCell in Ukraine and Integra Medical Center and ProgenCell in Mexico treat patients with a variety of stem cell therapies, including umbilical cord blood stem cell and placenta stem cell therapies.

Umbilical cord blood can be collected after either a cesarean or traditional birth. To collect the blood, parents must supply a cord blood kit which they can get from the cord blood bank where they will be storing the cells. In the event of a traditional birth, the umbilical cord is clamped from both ends and cut. An experienced nurse or obstetrician is often able to collect cord blood even before the placenta is delivered. To gather the cord blood, a small tube is inserted into the umbilical vein and collected, and then additional needles are placed within the delivered placenta to gather more valuable blood and cells.