MP pens radical new cord blood bill
Enfield Independent
2:36pm Friday 26th September 2008
SOUTHGATE MP David Burrowes is continuing to champion a new ethical treatment extracted from something we discard - which could save lives all over the world.
Cord blood cells, taken from placenta, can be used to treat 85 separate illnesses, ranging from leukaemia to sickle-cell anaemia, but most are routinely destroyed by hospitals, despite their obvious benefits.
The Conservative MP feels so strongly about the issue that he has penned a Bill, which is currently passing through the house.
If the House of Commons decides to throw its weight behind the proposed legislation, it could mean that every expectant mother would be informed that she is able to donate her placenta, either to be used for research or to put the valuable cells into a "bank" with a view to finding future donors.
Despite having six children of his own, Mr Burrowes, like many of us, had never heard of Cord Blood donations, but after objecting to stem cell research on moral grounds, he was amazed to discover there was believed to be a viable alternative.
He said: "The Bill proposes that each mother in the UK is informed that she could donate her placenta. I want every mother in England to realise that she can save lives by donating something which is just thrown away following 98 per cent of UK births."
He added: "It can be collected without affecting mum or the baby, and is, in my view, much more ethical than stem cell research."
Asked whether he would support an Opt-out programme, whereby mothers would have to sign a document saying they didn't want their cords donated, he said: "There are cases where people have genetically unherited blood disorders, that I would argue for an opt-out case, but that's not the case for everyone, as we just don't have the resources."
He added: "I recently met the mother of a young girl who survived thanks to cord blood. Her four-year-old daughter was saved by a transplant which was matched using this scheme."
The second reading of the bill is due before ministers on Friday, October 17.