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Essay on Stem Cell Research

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Stem Cell Research

INTRODUCTION
A child is born everyday and without realizing it, the material that is routinely discarded after the birth could one day be life saving for that person, someone else in the family, or even a complete stranger. This material is the umbilical cord, and the blood contained within their vessels.

One may wonder, why is this blood so important? Medical research has discovered that the residual umbilical cord blood contains stem cells. These cells are the building blocks that the body uses to create some of the key components of the human immune system, blood and bone marrow. Stem cells are essential for life, they carry oxygen, fight infections and platelets that form clots on injured body parts. So if …show more content…

To date the procedure has been performed on a patient upwards of 230 pounds. (http://www.caner.umn.edu/page/research/cord2.html). The blood is then cryogenically stored at –385 degrees Fahrenheit in a private or public blood bank.

WHO BENEFITS Once the blood is collected, what happens to it? Parents choose whether they want their child’s blood reserved for “Directed donation” or “Public donation”. With Directed donation the blood collected from the newborn will only be used for treating a blood disease of a sibling or immediate family member. It will be labeled and stored until it is needed. If a parent chooses Public donation, their baby’s cord blood will be donated to a general blood bank that anyone might use.

SOCIAL AND ETHICAL QUESTIONS RAISED If parents choose a Directed donation, the blood will remain in a private blood bank at an average cost of $1500, plus an annual storage fee of about $100 (source: American college of Obstetrics and Gynecology). To some people, that may seem like a small price to pay for all the potential benefits cord blood can provide, but what are the chances that one of their children or a family member will ever need to use it? Many private cord banks selling cord blood banking as a sort of “biological insurance” – just in case something happens. Experts in blood banking and bone marrow transplantation frown upon this; they argue that people are being frightened into

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