With more mixed-race children in Canada than ever, the decision of cord blood banking becomes increasingly important among interracial couples.

The number of interracial marriages in Canada is on the rise, as nearly 290 000 mixed-race couples reside in the country today. This is a 0.8% increase from 2001 – and with blood diseases like Sickle Cell Disease affecting mostly individuals of African and Caribbean descent, expecting parents are encouraged to consider the option of banking their each of their children’s cord blood. The cord blood could be used for a family member (related- Allogeneic ).

If a minority or mixed-race person were to need a stem cell transplant, the likelihood that they would find a donor is slim as the national registries have shortages of ethnic donors.

In the case of interracial couples, the option of family cord blood banking presents an additional advantage of donating to a public registry. For example, if a couple in which neither party is Caucasian (15% of the total number of interracial couples) decided to donate their child’s cord blood to a public bank, it would be entered into a registry, where the sample would be made available to anyone who is a match. However, if the child or family member were to be diagnosed with a disease treatable with cord blood stems after another patient who was a match for their sample, then they would have to begin their search for a cord blood or bone marrow match from square one.