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So what is umbilical cord blood all about?

Well in this introduction to cord blood, I'd like to go through some basics of cord blood and why parents are deciding to donate their baby's umbilical cord blood for the sake of their future health.

Firstly, realise that cord blood has 2 main areas of use, firstly for private or public donation for use as blood cell transplantation.

And secondly, it is used in a minor way for stem cell research to research on how stem cells can be turned into more mature functioning cells.

Let's in this article talk about choosing among the different cord blood banks.

When thinking about cord blood banks for private use as opposed to public donation, look at these factors:

Firstly, consider whether the particular cord blood bank you're looking at is accredited with the American Association of Blood Banks.

The fact that the bank is accredited means that the bank is inspected from time to time according to schedule to see that they meet the accreditation rules.

Accreditation of cord blood banks include issues such as whether correct procedures to screen and test the mother are followed, and standards of storage in their facility.

Secondly think about if the cord blood bank is well established or not. This simply means a bit of due diligence as to whether the bank has any concerns over financial health, whether their customers are happy, whether there is any problems with management or ethics of the company.

Of course you can't predict the future, but a good company now helps peace of mind.

So in conclusion, cord blood does hold promise for the future, for both private use as well as the benefits it has for the public to help people in medical need who cannot find a suitable bone marrow transplant.

As well as this, stem cell research is related to the finding of stem cells in cord blood samples!

This is another related area to cord blood, and more and more is discovered about how cells can be used for treatment as stem cell research continues.

For more about cord blood see this site on cord blood banking www.parentscordblood.com for more articles on this topic.