Sen. Len Fasano, R-North Haven, an attorney, is introducing a bill to establish a public cord blood bank in Connecticut. State lawmakers should throw their support behind it because it promises to help so many people with genetic disorders that affect the blood and immune system, and because it holds promise for incubating more research and more industry to the Constitution state.
Cord blood is chock-full of stem cells, which are unspecialized blood cells that can be manipulated to produce other cells, including blood-clotting platelets.
There are only 17 such public banks around the country. More prolific are private cord blood banks that charge a fee — a hefty one in excess of $1,400 on average to families who want to place this birth product material to treat members of their family if a future need arise.
Shortly after our first doctor’s appointment after learning my wife was pregnant, we started getting literature about cord blood banking. It was, in some respects, our first decision as parents. We could choose to bank our daughter’s cord blood with a private bank. It was costly to do so. After researching the issue, we concluded that the potential benefits weren’t worth the costs.
However, we certainly would have donated to a public cord blood bank. Much to our disappointment we learned that CT does not have a public cord blood bank because of out dated laws.
Please read the article and encourage your legislator to act on this bill. It was too late to help Kacey but it may just save the life of someone you love.