Headed in the Right Direction

Not everyone is blind to the life-saving possibilities that exist in cord blood collection, although it has taken some persuasion from activists for the government and medical professionals to invest in the process.  In the last legislative session, Free Market lobbied the Texas Legislature to pass a bill that now requires physicians to distribute a Questions and Answers about Cord Blood Banking and Donation to any woman in her third trimester of pregnancy.  SEE the brochure.

There are only a few places in the state that currently perform cord blood collection due to its infancy as a free procedure beginning in 2005. Free Market supporters who have advocated for this training and the spread of cord blood collection visited the Texas Cord Blood Bank to see the fruit of their labor.

Umbilical Cord Blood: Don’t Miss What Is Staring You in the Face

Why is it that Hollywood stars, public officials and garrulous advocates for leukemia and Alzheimer’s cures are insistent on life-taking research over life-saving research?  Just scratching beneath the surface has shown us that there are a number of medical advancements with life-saving potential that are being overlooked, underemphasized and flat-out ignored as misguided pleas for embryonic stem-cell research take the limelight.    Compare our two potential heroes on both sides of the research debate—embryonic stem cells vs. adult stem cells.  Embryonic stem cell research has been abandoned by its pioneers after years of total failure (Dolly the Sheep’s creator) whereas adult stem cells have been proven effective in treating over 70 diseases that affect the heart and immune system, to name a few.  Embryonic stem cells require cloning and then destroying a living embryo, adult stem cells do not take a life to save a life.  So what about supply?  Is the typical response from embryonic stem-cell supporters.  It’s staring you in the face.  Umbilical cord blood, that stuff typically thrown out after the natural events of a baby’s birth, is rich in stem cells that can be used to treat and save the lives of suffering patients that outspoken entertainment stars and politicians claim to care about curing.  I don’t know if compassionate hearts and partisan junkies jumped on-board the embryonic stem-cell train because it was moving so quickly, but progress is on the adult stem cell train, and opponents need to wake up and see they are headed the wrong way.