England: Private Cord Blood Banks Criticized

The BBC News reports that some in England aren't particularly impressed with private cord blood banking operations there. Some believe the outfits are using fear as a marketing tool and are making some less-than-totally-honest claims when advertising their umbilical cord blood storage operations.

You can read the full story, but here's an excerpt:

"Professor Peter Braude, head of the Department of Women's Health at King's College London and Chair of the RCOG expert group, said: "We have had a huge amount of commercial companies offering cord blood storage to parents and medical practitioners wanted guidance on the validity of some of the advertising claims.

"The likelihood of use is extremely small and some of the uses are extremely speculative.

"Most people are unaware there is an NHS cord blood bank and most transplants are done with bone marrow."