ericfromcowtown
Puritan Board Sophomore
I'm not sure if there is a more appropriate section for this. Moderators, if this should be posted elsewhere, can you please move it for me.
My wife and I are expecting our first child at the end of May, early June. One of the numerous pamphlets that are thrust upon you at the doctor's office is from the "Cord Blood Bank of Canada." The service provided by this company is extraction and storage of blood from your baby's umbilical cord. Specifically, it is the stem cells within the cord blood that are being saved.
Apart from the cost, $1100 for the first year and then $125 every year after that for storage, as soon as I hear "stem cells" my antennae go up. The reason the Cord Blood Bank of Canada thinks storing your baby's stem cells is important is that, "stem cells may one day be used to repair damaged hearts, brains, spinal cords, heal injury from strokes and heart attacks and minimize or cure diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes." That's quite the list. No promises, just maybes.
Now, this isn't directly an embryonic stem cells issue, but indirectly is it? One would be banking on the possibility that one day stem cell research (including presumably advances aided by embryonic stem cell research), will make stem cells the silver bullet for a host of ailments.
What does everyone think? Am I looking for a controversy where there is none? Have any of you done this?
My wife and I are expecting our first child at the end of May, early June. One of the numerous pamphlets that are thrust upon you at the doctor's office is from the "Cord Blood Bank of Canada." The service provided by this company is extraction and storage of blood from your baby's umbilical cord. Specifically, it is the stem cells within the cord blood that are being saved.
Apart from the cost, $1100 for the first year and then $125 every year after that for storage, as soon as I hear "stem cells" my antennae go up. The reason the Cord Blood Bank of Canada thinks storing your baby's stem cells is important is that, "stem cells may one day be used to repair damaged hearts, brains, spinal cords, heal injury from strokes and heart attacks and minimize or cure diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes." That's quite the list. No promises, just maybes.
Now, this isn't directly an embryonic stem cells issue, but indirectly is it? One would be banking on the possibility that one day stem cell research (including presumably advances aided by embryonic stem cell research), will make stem cells the silver bullet for a host of ailments.
What does everyone think? Am I looking for a controversy where there is none? Have any of you done this?