Concerns over Indian Cord Blood Bank Life Cell

I saw this blog entry which was pretty interesting. Essentially, the author describes the controversies of running a cord blood bank, even a "public-access" one, which create perceptions of charity or public responsibility, but may have its own consequences of ethics and points of controversy*.

I'll provide you with the start of the article and maybe you'll find it interesting enough to read the whole entry (which isn't long) and think through its perspectives... The first 3 lines were very provoking.


Cord blood banks are a lot like real ones. The more people participate, the better the value for everyone.

It's free to make a deposit, but withdrawals come with all kinds of fees.

US banks are pretty well regulated. The rest of the world has its colorful outliers.
People fear that India, which is coming into the cord banking world now with LifeCell, may not be too stringent on who gets to buy their blood -- and people may be dying to donate. Wired has the story:

Most experts agree that public cord-blood banking is a good idea. Stem cells from both cord blood and bone marrow treat many blood diseases, but cord blood is easier to obtain. Cord blood is also less likely to be rejected than bone marrow, which requires an exact match, usually from a family member. Similar to a blood bank, a cord-blood bank relies on donations to cover a broad range of immune types. The more donors, the more likely patients in need will find a match.
But in India, where female infanticide and body-organ sales are not uncommon, watchdog groups worry that a massive cord-blood bank like LifeCell's could create a dangerous demand for umbilical cords.



I believe that if good quality stem cell banking can be made available for a reasonable price, expectant parents would have no qualms about making the decision to store their babies's stem cells. Whilst greater popularity amongst investors should be a good thing, one of the challenges facing cord blood banks in many countries today is posed by ruthless competition, where price slashing may lead to a consequential cutting corners in a service which confuses the public and gives the entire industry a bad name.

At StemLife, we believe in providing value added services to our clients at an affordable cost and going the extra mile to make sure that the stem cell banking service is available to anyone who enquires. Our committment to our clients is that we care about their babies' stem cells and prudent management of the company with proven credibility also enables us to survive and excel in this new but exciting industry.



*Private banks are often accused of making parents feel bad for not banking their babies' cord blood stem cells, but forget that public banks are faced with difficult choices too in order to meet their respective targets.