I'm not sure that parents always have complete information before deciding to conserve stem cells from the umbilical cord of their children and, sometimes, I have found that the data given to them only includes how beneficial it can be to have them, not how harmful it is to not allow the blood flowing through the cord to reach your child.
Umbilical cord blood is a source of extraction of mother cells in large numbers, especially of hematopoietic stem cells, which have a great power of regeneration of the blood and the immune system, they replicate very well and multiply more rapidly than those of another origin.
Leukemia, some cancers and some immune diseases are treated with stem cells today. So far, everything looks rosy.
Types of uses and custody of stem cells
He umbilical cord stem cell use has medical applications Currently, donating it so that it can be kept in public banks and serves to help people with serious illnesses.
There is also the case of the so-called "medication babies", a name that I dislike a little, but surely we all understand. If one of the children suffers from a disease that can be treated with stem cells in some cases, those from the cord of a baby brother born after selecting suitable and compatible embryos are used.
The emotion of knowing that a living child has been cured thanks to his brother is undeniable, and possibly everyone, even those who reject the use of embryos for research, may not feel close to those relieved parents. In those cases, the extraction and subsequent operation are usually done very quickly because they are usually cases in addition, in which the recipient is in danger.
There are even companies offering cryogenization services for stem cells extracted from the baby's cord immediately after birth and keep them for future use in case of donor disease.
So far the self-donation is not a guarantee of cure at all demonstrated in a general way although some case has been documented and very little has been used, although the samples would obviously be compatible. If we want the cells for exclusively private use we must keep them in another country, because in Spain it is not legal to refuse to share them in case of need with a patient.
If the blood is kept in a private bank in Spain, there will be an obligation to register the sample in the General Donor Network. This, after all, preserves the blood for the donor but makes it available to other people if someone urgently needs it for the treatment of a serious illness such as leukemia.
But it's not all that simple. There are basic ethical dilemmas in all this, in addition, of course, the fear of a child's illness even if it is hypothetical. I will analyze both issues.
The risks of illness in children's life and how to prevent them
However there is a note that I would like to make. None of us is free from the danger of disease. Even if we strive to give our children the best of lives, offering a healthy diet, without pesticides or chemicals; even if we live in the middle of Nature, with clean air and no nuclear power plants nearby; even if we have the guarantee that the water we drink is not contaminated with heavy metals and the fish and meat we eat is carcinogenic; Even so the danger of getting sick exists.
Of course we can preserve the health of our children through a healthy life, a clean environment, a balanced diet and free of contaminants where possible, but also, if we want to reduce the leukemia index, we just need to breastfeed.
Breastfeeding makes childhood cancer and leukemia rates If they are minor, it would not be enough if we do not care about everything else, and artificial milk may not be definitive if we take care of everything else, but the simple gesture of breastfeeding the baby already protects it from leukemia. It is safer, statistically speaking, to breastfeed than to keep cord blood.
Concern that our child has a healthy diet, receives fresh air, sports, is not exposed to chemicals or high levels of pollution and is not obese are also very important data to consider. It is safer, statistically speaking, to maintain a healthy life than to keep cord blood.
Preserve cord stem cells
Decide if we retain cord stem cells It is a personal decision, in which you have to assess all the real information about its usefulness, the different ways of saving it, the health aspects that affect diseases and, as we will see in the next topic, ethical and health issues of the newly born.
