Medical Article

December 21, 1999 The Hope, and Hype, of Cord Blood By DENISE GRADY Should parents pay a blood bank to store the blood from their newborn baby's umbilical cord and placenta, in case that child or another family member ever needs it to treat cancer or leukemia? Expectant parents are being urged to do so by companies that have sprung up during the past few years to sell cord-blood banking as a form of "biological insurance" against …

…of the cord-blood companies. "My concern is that it be presented fairly to expectant mothers, who are already fairly vulnerable," he said. "I have a lot of obstetricians and parents calling me and complaining it's too late, they missed the opportunity. Others call saying, 'Should I do this?' It's hard to answer. I don't want to bias them. We have someone now who takes the calls for me because it got to be overwhelming."