CBS News reports that a boy has been cured of sickle-cell anemia using adult stem cells from an umbilical cord, heretofore regarded as medical waste (even by pro-lifers). If this isn't a freak result, it represents a huge breakthrough, because the technique doesn't even require matching--the stem cells came from an anonymous donor. One would hope that saving the umbilical blood will now become standard procedure in all hospitals.

Wonder what Professor Kass thinks of this one.

I'm not denigrating this in any way, but this is slightly old news (if welcome news). Umbilical cord blood has certainly not been regarded as "medical waste," at least not in the last 4 or 5 years. My mother works in the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Duke University Medical Center, and they have been doing cord blood transplants for at least the last 4 or 5 years. It treats all sorts of leukemia and other diseases normally treated with bone marrow transplants.

The technique does require some matching, unlike what you said. However, it requires _less_ matching, as fewer of the markers have to be identical as when doing a bone marrow transplant. So, not everyone can donate to everyone, but the possibilities are wider.

There are cord blood banks in several locations in the US, and there has already been a push to save the cord blood as often as possible.

Thanks for the further info. I should probably have done a little further research rather than just rereporting something from CBS (so many stories, so little time). Live and learn (not that I shouldn't have known better anyway--I never rely on them for television news).

Anyway, it is good news, particularly in the context of all the current noise in the debate over stem-cell research and cloning.

Most of the cord-blood banks currently in operation are commercial, and fairly expensive. My wife and I are expecting our first child, and considering banking the cord blood not just for any potential problems with our baby (G-d forbid) but as a possible future treatment for my wife's diabetes.