Anyone see Nightline re Cord Blood last night?

[badshotbob]

Interesting to say the least. I had no idea so much effort was going into selling this service to parents. I'm personally not real thrilled about it and would never do it, but do you think it should be illegal? Does it cross to closely to stem cell research?

[etothepii]

We donated cord blood when my first son was born. It was free, and as I saw it, the research on it was harmless, compared to fetal stem cell research.

When my second son was born, there was no free service remaining in my area. We could pay to have it stored with a garantee that it would be saved exclusively for my son. We opted not to, because of the cost, and because it wouldn't be helping anyone else.

As a side note: I've heard that it is theorized that cord blood research and adult stem cell research should be able to accomplish all that fetal stem cell research can. Has anyone else heard this?

[MikeVT]

Although I am republican, I do not agree with the religious right on most issues. We donated the cord blood from our twins, if it can be used to help just one person dying from a degenerative disease, then it was well use. Also, I have heard that theory mentioned above, but the biggest deal with fetal stem cells is that they can be "programmed" to fit any adult cells whereas adult cells are already predetermined. Just what I have read.