X-Message-Number: 9146 Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 23:46:40 -0800 From: Tim Freeman <> Subject: Umbilical cord blood storage At http://www.cordblood.com/ there's an ad for some folks who will freeze and store umbilical cord blood from a newborn baby, speculating that it will eventually be good for something. A likely use is repopulating a relative's bone marrow after it has been destroyed by lukemia therapy, for instance. The stored blood is ideal for the donor, good but less ideal for close relatives. Cost is about $1000 up front, $100 per year storage. Seems like a similar gamble to cryonics, to me. It's less extreme, since the technology to use the cord blood already exists, and there are no metaphysical questions to ask about personal identity. As with cryonics, there are issues about unproven technology (since they don't mention that anybody has used cord blood from the bank yet), and as with cryonics there is always the opportunity for people to feel bad (or good!) about being selfish. Any comments? My wife Ailing will be giving birth to baby #2 in a few months, so this is not a hypothetical proposition for us. -- Tim Freeman http://www.infoscreen.com/resume.html Web-centered Java, Perl, and C++ programming in Silicon Valley or offsite Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9146