Yup, that's right, I said, "Umbilical Cords!" Those flexible cordlike structures containing blood vessels that attach to humans or other mammalian fetuses to placentas during gestation are proving to actually possess some worth after birth.
After we're born, doctors ask the father to cut the umbilical cord of their newborn, and then the doctor throws the cord away. But now, doctors are reconsidering this common act, because using blood from the umbilical cord has already proven to be successful.
Still, even with some limited success, there are some very important variables within this particular form of stem cell research. “Banking cord blood ,” the term used for saving stem cells from the umbilicus, is extremely expensive and for some “too high of an expense" (Verter). The exact figure is never specified, but it is high enough for “only a limited number of institutions [to] have the funding to maintain public banks” (Verter). Storing cord blood is pricy because it requires freezers, buildings to hold the frozen blood that follow medical regulations, and also personnel (Verter). Another variable of cord blood is that evidence proves it only works for children. If one were to weigh more than one hundred pounds– more than half of the people in the United States weigh over one hundred pounds–-the amount of stem cells harvested from the umbilicus would not be found sufficient (Verter). Thus, stem cells from the umbilicus would only be able to help children, which is great, but is it worth halting the research of embryonic stem cells which could potentially benefit everyone?
On the bright side, this argument does not lend itself to the problems associated with fetuses or religion.
Verter, Frances. "Medical Pros and Cons to Banking Umbilical Cord Blood." 15 Dec. 2004. Medical Pros and Cons Cord Blood Banking. 15 Dec. 2004 http://www.parents guidecordblood.com/medmotiv.html>.
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2 comments:
Gross! Interesting topic, but like you said it isn't so related to your main issue.
That's an interesting find. How would scientists go about preserving the live's of umbilical cords? Don't umbilical cords have to remain attached to something living? And with regards to the other comment related to this post, I think Jerome is still on topic. He's saying there are more forms of stem cell research than solely embryonic, so we should research those other possibilities, because these other forms will not cause religious uproar.
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