Which would you chose to fund? Stem cells, cloning, or genetically modified organisms?

Are you pondering about whether or not you should speak to a local cord blood bank?

The general idea of cord blood banking has witnessed an improved acceptance in the past several years. Right now people are giving it serious thought to bank their infant’s cord blood. Previously, the umbilical cord used to be abandoned after the child was finally delivered, however with growing awareness of how valuable the blood of the umbilical cord is, the doctors have now started to store the blood of the umbilical cord in cord blood banks.

After a good deal of medical research has been conducted on what can be done with the umbilical cord researchers have observed that it is very helpful to store the umbilical cord in a cord blood bank. The blood from the umbilical cord is really useful in treating numerous diseases related to the immune system and also other blood related disorders which people suffer with. Till relatively recently the umbilical blood was never stored in a cord blood bank; But after the mid 1990s medical professionals have began to appreciate the magnitude of umbilical blood and are now circulating awareness about the importance of storing umbilical blood in a cord blood bank.

The emergent importance of the Cord blood bank

The most basic reason why people are now researching using a cord blood bank is because the umbilical blood is considered to be so precious. This is because it consists of high amount of hematopoietic stem cells and can be stored in the cord blood banks safely for years. The importance of having a high quantity of hematopoietic stem cells is that this precise type of blood is capable of generating new white blood cells and red blood cells. The concept behind the use of cord blood is similar to that of bone marrow transplants which have been in practice for many years. However unlike the bone marrow which needs to be a perfect match, the utilization of the umbilical blood does not call for such a perfect match.

There are many higher chances of treating an ailment with the use of umbilical blood than there are with the bone marrow transplants since the probability of someones body rejecting the umbilical blood are much less in comparison to his chances of rejecting the bone marrow.

The continuous stem cell research shows that there are roughly 70 diseases that can be cured with the use of the umbilical cord blood. It is for this reason that increasingly more people are beginning to keep their baby’s umbilical cord blood in a local cord blood bank. The cord blood is not only useful to the child whose umbilical cord blood is stored, but this blood can also be used by various family members of the children as well. The use of umbilical blood is vital because research has proved that the use of the umbilical blood could be of assistance in curing some cancers, damaged internal organs and even blood disorders, which is one of the main reasons why a lot of people are choosing to make use of a cord blood bank service.

If you need to get your baby’s umbilical blood stored need to decide on a cord blood bank prior to the delivery of your infant due to the fact that not every hospital is equipped collect and move the umbilical blood to the cord blood bank. Consequently you will have to to decide the cord blood bank and let your dr know about 2 months in advance so that you can simplify the progression of paperwork and preparation for the collection and storage of your baby’s umbilical cord blood to the cord blood bank.

If you were responsible for determining how the US could use research funds which of these technologies would you fund first?
  • Stem cell
  • cloning
  • transgenic (genetically modified) organisms
Why?
What restrictions would you place on either research or the use of each of these technologies?
I ask these questions as I wonder how much thought people have put into their like or dislike of stem cell research and cord blood banks.
So if you don’t think we should do any kind of stem cell research and shouldn’t use cord blood banks to store the cells from babies umbilical cords, the next questions is, what should we do?
There is no use saying not to do something if you don’t have an alternative action that can be taken. Stem cell research is already here, now we just need to make sure that we use the latest research to make the best use of your local cord blood bank.

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