X-Message-Number: 19217
Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2002 09:26:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Scott Badger <>
Subject: Cryo-Diversification

Sixty Minutes II on Wed evening aired a story about a
6 year old boy with sickle-cell anemia who was
considered terminal. He was treated with stem cells
extracted from an umbilical (or as the boy pronounced
it, umbiblical) chord found at a public storage
facility that had been gathering and freezing
umbilical chords. Although very close matches are
needed for operations like bone marrow transplants,
stem cells apparently offer a much broader range of
compatibilty options. Within a couple weeks,
significant improvements were seen. The stem cells
migrated to the bone marrow where they developoed into
blood forming cells. Oddly enough, the boys blood type
changed from O pos to Type B! He also stopped growing
and now is 16 but looks about 9 years old. 

Now there's a company in Arizona, I think, that has
generated about 50 million dollars charging parents
about $1500 and an annual fee of about $75 to
cryogenically preserve their newborn's umbilical
chord.

Questions:

Why isn't ALCOR or CI in this business? There's no
real controversy surrounding it since embryos aren't
involved. In fact what other cryogenic services could
feasibly be offered to help ensure that ALCOR or CI
survives over time to revive us?

What effects would such stem cell injections likely
have on normal adults? Possible rejuvenation effects? 

Just curious.

Scott Badger

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