A brochure in Baden-Württemberg solicits for blood donations from the umbilical cord of the newborn:
"Umbilical cord blood is simply too good to throw away!"
The advertisement on a Parents’ www-
"With its first own breath, the baby no longer needs its umbilical cord. But it's actually too valuable to dispose of with the hospital waste. Donating umbilical cord blood is a good alternative."
With such statements, however, parents are deprived of essential information on which a decision should be based.
The founder of BIOSKOP magazine Erika Feyerabend researches: "Nowadays blood from the umbilical cord can be donated or stored for money. Mostly, this possibility is described as an opportunity, as future "health care" for one's own child or as help for other sick people. But there are concerns: Do commercial interests of private provider companies dominate? Are health consequences for the newborn being ignored?" (1) Estimates put the probability that a child could eventually benefit from blood storage at 0.04%.
Dr. Sven Hildebrandt: "In principle, the woman giving birth must decide whether she wants to give the stem cell-rich and therefore coveted umbilical cord blood directly to the child, as nature intended, or whether this blood should be used for other purposes... several possible recipients cannot be served at the same time. What is clear is that the stem cells of the cord blood are important for the child." (2)

According to a new guideline for in-hospital births, the mother decides whether the umbilical cord should be allowed to pulsate out or be clamped prematurely between 1 and 5 minutes. Inquire.

(1) BIOSKOP 9/2015
(2) Ribbon of life, DHZ 10/ 2015