CORD-BLOOD CONTROVERSY

摘要

Zoee is a perfectly healthy little girl. But her parents, Scott and Blake Fintz, aren't taking any chances. Compelled by a pamphlet in their doctor's office, they decided to store Zoee's umbilical-cord blood, banking its precious stem cells for potentially lifesaving medical use in the future. Signing up with the private Cord Blood Registry―a "once in a lifetime opportunity," the pamphlet insists―set them back $1,300, with an extra $95 due each year for storage. But the Fintzes didn't balk at the price. "We're glad to know there's a medical safety net for our daughter," Scott says. "Should anything ever happen in the future, we'd pay 10 times that for a cure." How could any parent refuse the offer of biological insurance? It turns out that the issue is more complicated than the industry's marketing machine would have you believe. And, as with all insurance, you should carefully assess your risks first, because the cost is considerable. There are more than 125,000 units of cord blood stored at private and public banks in the United States. So far, there have been only 2,500 cord-blood transplants worldwide―and it's still considered a risky and experimental procedure. Doctors say it's extremely unlikely a healthy child would ever need to use his own cord blood.