Commercial banks, however, stand to lose about 90 percent of their clientele with that approach. And Grant says there are still plenty of diseases contracted later in life that could be treated with autologous transplants. Although blood banks are trying to increase the public supply through education, many have had trouble financing cord blood collection. Biotech entrepreneurs say that with 4 million births in the United States every year, there's no reason public and private supplies can't exist simultaneously. Rubenstein says public blood banks would be happy to return a cord blood sample to a particular family, should they later need it, but he acknowledges that that blood may be gone.
All parties agree that the future of cord blood is promising.
Scientists are experimenting with cord blood for treating everything from breast cancer to spinal cord injuries. Medical ethicists worry about consumer protections in such a speculative and emotional industry. And you can multiply that by infinity when you ask parents how much would you pay to let your child live a healthier life. Last year, Annas criticized the commercialization of cord blood in the New England Journal of Medicine. He also wrote that it muddies the relationship between patients and obstetricians, who might have a business alliance with cord blood companies.