Make sure it’s not wasted
Today as a parent you have a great opportunity, if not a duty, to decide what to do with cord blood.
As the European Community states in Directive 2004/23/EC:
“Blood is not associable with the umbilical cord since the latter does not regenerate in our body like blood”.
For this reason, donating “the cord” is not like donating blood and involves a well-pondered choice. According to Italian law, parents can choose to use cord blood for:
- Public donation (Legislative Decree 191 of 6-11-2007 – G.U. N.261) (link to public banking) offering their stem cells to anyone needing them, in anonymous form
- Dedicated autologous donation (Legislative Decree 18/11/2009 – G.U. N.303 (link to public banking) where the newborn baby will have a proven risk of developing one of the pathologies specified by the law (table of Ministry of Health on “Therapeutic Use” page)
- Private or autologous storage (Legislative Decree 18/11/2009 and Agreement 62 State-Regions Conference of 29 April 2010 (link to private banking)
To make the best choice, parents should first of all learn the differences between Private Banking and Public Banking:
| COMPARISONS | PRIVATE BANKING | PUBLIC BANKING |
| Costs | Flat fee for 25 years of storage | None |
| Family’s rights on sample | The parents own the sample and pass it on to the baby when he or she comes of age | None, the sample is made available to the National Health System |
| Licence for export and collecting |
|
|
| Preservation possibility | Very high because the greater compatibility between blood relations requires lower standards | Low because the parameters for using the sample between non-blood relations means higher standards |
| Probable compatibility for use |
|
Variable between 1/50,000-100,000; given the high number of Caucasian samples in international registers, the probability rises to 50-80% |
| Donor medical history | Necessary, updated to time of transplant | Necessary, but not updated because of donor anonymity |
| Costs and times for using the sample |
|
|
| Present and future therapeutic uses |
|
Only in onco-haematological field |
Amended from: Capone F, Lombardini L, Pupella S, Grazzini G, Costa AN, Migliaccio G. “Cord blood stem cell banking: a snapshot of the Italian situation”, Transfusion. 2011 Mar 18
SmartBank supports any decision made by parents, whether for public donate or private storage, because it firmly believes in this precious resource and in encouraging the least possible waste.
Unfortunately some 95% of umbilical cords are still thrown away in Italy.
It is obviously necessary to make public banks (a good 19 in Italy, against 2 in the United Kingdom and 3 in Australia), more effective. Many of them are not certified by the European biobank networks and do not have an adequate number of samples stored, often because they lack the funds needed to treat the blood.
Probably a network of public banks selected by quality and territorial distribution (north – centre – south), with more funds for improving relations with hospitals, to enable banking the annual minimum quantity of samples (2000 – 3000) that justifies the cost of each biobank, would be the most effective way of reducing waste.
There is also a difference in messages between private/autologous in Italy and private/autologous abroad. Private banking abroad is understood and justified as private banking for the family: it is the family that can use the sample. In Italy, instead, the message tends to creates an unnecessary conflict between the two systems, since with private storage the sample is not just available for the donor but for all the family.
Cord cell science boasts important goals but also requires rigid regulations for both the public and private sphere to achieve excellent quality systems and to ensure that parents can make informed choices.
