Freeze umbilical cords and save a life later on

TREATMENT using stem cells from umbilical cord blood represents a highly significant medical advance. More than 70 treatments have been developed for sufferers of various diseases using cord blood stem cells.

These include stroke, cancer, multiple sclerosis and blood diseases. Many more treatments are currently on trial.

I am seeking to have a structure set up so that cord blood will be available for those who need it.

As a rule, umbilical cords are discarded after a baby is born. However, there is an increasing trend in other countries to preserve the blood from the cord for its stem cells and for funds for cord blood and cord blood stem-cell research.

The recent news that Irish parents will no longer be allowed to bank umbilical cords because of the EU Tissues and Cells Directive is very disappointing for parents. In reality, cord blood stored in domestic freezers will almost certainly not be usable in a baby’s later life.

However, properly resourced cryopreservation units (the freezing units used for cord blood) do exist in Ireland — in Galway and in recently-opened facilities in Dublin.

There is no reason why any baby’s umbilical cord should be wasted in Ireland. If handled properly, cords can be preserved for up to 36 hours after the birth of a child, giving plenty of time for them to arrive at dedicated centres for preservation, to the benefit both of the child and other patients.

Such specialised units would qualify under the EU Tissues and Cells Directive which stops parents from taking cords home to freeze. All that is needed is Government willingness.

I call on the Minister for Health and Children and the Minister for Finance to allocate funds to set up a proper cord blood preservation system. People are waiting for the help that cord blood can offer. Funding and coordination from Government is all that is required to meet this need. The State should stop wasting precious cord blood and start making it and its stem cells available to researchers developing new treatments and to clinicians who are waiting for cord blood for existing procedures.

People are sick and waiting for stem cells.

Kathy Sinnott MEP

European Parliament

Strasbourg