National Marrow Donor Program Applauds California Legislation to Expand Cord Blood Collection.Encourages state to adequately fund the initiative MINNEAPOLIS -- The National Marrow Donor Program The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that operates the federally funded registry of volunteer hematopoietic cell donors in the United States. These potential donors, numbering more than 6. ([R]) (NMDP NMDP National Marrow Donor Program NMDP National Missile Defense Program ), today announced its support of two bills passed in the California State legislature The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house California State Senate, with 40 members. , and signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger, that expand opportunities for pregnant women to donate umbilical cord blood umbilical cord blood Transplantation A source of primitive and stem cells that can be used to reconstitute BM destroyed by aplastic anemia or by RT or chemotherapy for CA, lymphoproliferative malignancies. See Bone marrow transplantation, Stem cell therapy. for public use. Bills SB962 and AB34 will help increase the number of cord blood cord blood n. Blood present in the umbilical vessels at the time of delivery. units donated through public cord blood banks A cord blood bank is a facility which stores umbilical cord blood for future use. Cord blood, a precious resource physiologically tranfused from the placenta through the umbilical cord to the neonate for stabilization upon birth, is not recommended to be harvested for the vast that participate in the NMDP Registry. Through its role as the operator of the C. W. Bill Young Stem Cell Transplantation Stem Cell Transplantation Definition Stem cells are basic human cells that reproduce (replicate) easily, providing a continuous source of new, sometimes different types of cells. Program, the NMDP manages the world's largest registry of donated cord blood units and adult marrow donors. Each day more than 6,000 men, women and children with leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases search the NMDP Registry hoping to find a match; for many of these patients, a transplant may be the best and only treatment option. These patients turn to the NMDP because they do not have a matched donor within their family (most often a sibling who could donate marrow or cord blood). "Thanks to these bills, more California mothers will be able to donate cord blood and offer hope to patients in desperate need of a cord blood or marrow transplant," said Michael Boo, NMDP strategic development officer. "We hope other states will follow California in its commitment to expand the publicly available cord blood units accessible through the NMDP Registry." As the National Cord Blood Coordinating Center, the NMDP works with a network of public cord blood banks to increase the number and diversity of cord blood units available and to educate expectant parents. This network includes two public cord blood banks in California. StemCyte International Cord Blood Center and Children's Hospital A children's hospital is a hospital which offers its services exclusively to children. The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th century, as pediatric medical and surgical specialties separated from internal medicine and adult surgical specialties. of Orange County Cord Blood Bank. To learn more about cord blood donation and ways to donate, go to www.marrow.org/cord. NMDP sees the potential of this framework to allow the residents in California to be able to have a meaningful opportunity to publicly donate their cord blood unit if they so wish. It will be critical that as the California program is designed, funding is provided to make this opportunity a reality. About the National Marrow Donor Program The NMDP facilitates unrelated marrow and cord blood transplants as a single point of access for a long-standing collaborative network of national and international leading medical facilities in marrow and cord blood transplantation. The NMDP connects patients, doctors, donors and researchers to the resources they need to help more people live longer and healthier lives. For more information call 1 (800) MARROW-2 or visit www.marrow.org. Join online at marrow.org/join. |
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