Family cord blood group formed

The Association of Family Cord Blood Banks (AFCB; Dover, Delaware) has been formed to be an advocate for the family cord blood preservation industry. AFCB says it is based on the collaboration of private cord blood preservation organizations.

As the number of expecting families choosing to preserve their baby's umbilical cord blood has increased significantly over the past several years, the association said it is “important that the industry speak in unity on issues of public safety, best technical practices and the rights of individuals to be able to knowledgeably determine whether or not to privately store cord blood stem cells for the benefit of their families.“

The group said it “supports the establishment of [a] public system to preserve cord blood for unrelated use“ and believes an educational program is an essential component of a public system to obtain informed consent prior to public donations.