Public Cord Blood Bank on the Horizon

State Senator Len Fasano (R-34) announced today in a press conference in Hartford that a Connecticut public cord blood bank is making promising steps towards becoming a reality.

Joined by the General Assembly's Public Health Committee co-chairmen, Representative Betsy Ritter (D-Waterford/Montville), and Senator Jason Perillo (R-Shelton), Fasano and the Cord Blood Taskforce laid out details of a bill currently before legislators that would make cord blood publically available to CT families.

"A public cord blood bank is an invaluable health resource for the people of Connecticut," said Fasano. "Expanding access to this important medical development is critical to so many families who are looking for answers as to how a loved one’s life can be saved."

According to the taskforce, cord blood banking represents a unique opportunity for parents to harvest stem cells from a baby's umbilical cord that can later be used to treat a variety of diseases, such a leukemia, multiple sclerosis, and sickle cell.

But the availability of cord blood remains a contested issue. Connecticut is currently one of only seventeen states nationwide that have taken legislative steps towards raising awareness of cord blood banking.

“There is a statewide and nationwide crisis with respect to availability and ready access to bone marrow stem cells, particularly among African Americans and other minority patients," noted  Dr. Charles Lockwood of the Yale University School of Medicine. "As a state it is critical that we focus our attention on building a public umbilical cord blood bank in order to provide potentially life-saving treatment options for those who need them the most."

With the establishment of a public cord blood bank, the taskforce hopes more patients will be able to find a donor match. Currently, a large quantity of cord blood is discarded by hospitals following births. By raising awareness of the blood's value to those in need of stem cell transplants, the pending legislation would attempt to curb this waste.

"This is all about people helping people," said Winston A. Campbell, M.D. of the UConn Health Center John Dempsey Hospital. "These Legislators are crafting a bill to help people and give them options that will ultimately help their own family, fellow residents of this state or others from around the nation."

The proposed bill is now before the Public Health Committee.