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Need to Promote Cord Blood Stem Cells - Europe is behind the United States and Asian Pacific countries

01 October 2009
by eub2 -- last modified 01 October 2009

Cord Blood Europe calls for better education and understanding about the value of cord blood stem cells among parents-to-be.


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"The long-term storage of stem cells at birth is still far below 5% of the total annual births in many European countries ", says Dr. Eberhard Lampeter, President of Cord Blood Europe. "Although there are 5.4 million births each year in Europe, less than 400,000 stem cell samples have been stored to date by both private family and public donation banks."

In the United States an increasing number of federal states have adopted legislation that requires health care providers to deliver mandatory information about the advantages of storing and donating stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

Cord blood contains very young and healthy stem cells, which have the potential to cure previously untreatable diseases. More than 100 diseases like cancer, leukemia, brain disease and diabetes type 1 are treated with adult stem cells from cord blood or bone marrow. It has been determined that there is a 1:200 life time probability for need of a stem cell-based treatment. 20.000 people have already been treated with umbilical stem cells and, with over 3,000 clinical trials ongoing, the number of treatments will further increase.

Cord Blood Europe's mission is to promote awareness about the advantages of adult stem cells and to increase their storage at birth in Europe, so that thousands of potent umbilical stem cell samples are stored and  not considered useless any longer.

"As the number of clinical trials with adult stem cells is expanding, there is a need for policymakers and healthcare professionals across Europe to focus more and put impetus on raising awareness about the advantages of stem cells", Lampeter highlights. "There is no second chance to collect cord blood. Hence, impartial and balanced education of the parents-to-be about the potential of their children's cord blood is required. "

Cord Blood Europe A.I.S.B.L. (not-for-profit) is the European Association of Family Cord Blood Banks and has its representation offices in Brussels. Seven leading stem cell storage companies from various European countries– CrioEstaminal (Portugal), Cryo-Save (Netherlands), Future Health Technology (United Kingdom), Polski Bank Komorek Macierzystych (Poland), Stemcare (Denmark), Swiss Stem Cell Bank (Switzerland) and VITA34 (Germany) – have established this new trade association in January 2009. Cord Blood Europe provides a platform of co-operation and exchange of best practices in the field of stem cell storage and regenerative medicines. The association members encourage and contribute to a harmonized regulatory framework of European policies on cells and tissues, and comply with the highest levels of safety and quality in their laboratories. The members of Cord Blood Europe are active in all EU and EFTA countries.

Cord Blood Europe