August 22nd, 2011 | 
Author: Cord blood is present in umbilical cord. There are many advantages of storing umbilical cord blood and placenta after child birth for, they can save a life. After birth, cord blood is discarded, unless parents want to preserve it. Each year, pregnant women are taught about the importance of preserving, or donating umbilical cord, but only few take initiatives to donate it.
Recently, there are many stem cell collection centers in the US. People, choose to preserve cord blood either in private, or public cord blood banks. When one has plans to donate it for research, or future use, they need not bother about preservation costs incurred. They can choose to donate them to public blood banks.
If there are genetic diseases in a family, then it is highly recommended that they preserve umbilical cord at a private bank, so that it can be used in the future if genetic disease surfaces in the child. If there is no history of such illness, then it is not necessary to store cord blood privately and pay the storage charges for storing cord blood.
A private blood-bank that has earned accreditation of AABB, or is ISO certified, will charge anywhere around $2000. Also, yearly charge around $125 in the United States is applicable. A few companies like Americord Registry include 20 year storage charge, in the collection fee itself. This fee may be to collect stem cells only, and when one wants to store cord blood cells as well, they may have to shell out more.
When one is planning to donate their stem cells, they should find a lab that has maintained standards for storage, if finding certified labs is difficult. In Canada, collection fee for stem cell collection is at around $1125, with yearly charge at $125. If one wants to store placenta along with stem cells, going to US is the only option, since there are no placenta storage labs in Canada, UK or Central and South America.
There are not enough public banks that accept umbilical cord donation. But one should make every effort to find a collection center nearby and donate cord blood cells. This can be given to unrelated patients, whose grafts match with cord blood. Certification of a lab that offers storage must be checked, when one plans to preserve cord tissues, or placenta for future use. Opt for the best private lab that has not only accreditation and certification, but also good reputation with the general public.