Public Cord Blood Banking Debate in Europe
In Europe, 11% of pregnant women state that they would be willing to store their baby’s cord blood at a private bank; however, only 1% of the country’s cord blood stem cells are actually stored in private banking facilities.
In France and Italy, public cord blood banks have called upon their governments t enact a ban on banking with private companies. Currently, parents who wish to have their children’s cord blood stored privately must ship their samples to locations outside of their home countries. The shipping process is laborious and parents must undergo a great deal of authorization in order to export the sample successfully.
These two countries are the only European Union member states that have enacted restrictions of this kind, and parents through France and Italy are displeased. When cord blood is sent to public banks, the family is not guaranteed that they will have access to the same sample should a family member ever fall ill. Instead, their cord blood unit will be given to the first matched child in need.
Dr. Eberhard Lampeter of the Cord Blood Europe Organization believes that the European parliament should take into consideration the needs of parents cross these countries. "The discussion should not be about banning private initiative to favor state monopolies, but about how to be able to get sufficient and effective means to treat future patients. This can only be successfully done through public-private collaboration.”
Lampeter goes on to say “This shows the added value of storage for potential use within the family, i.e. for autologous and related allogeneic uses. I wish to remind that private banks store for both potential autologous and related allogeneic uses”