Umbilical cord blood contains a rich supply of stem cells and there are now services that allow the private storage of cord blood, collected at birth from the umbilical cord of the placenta, in order to store stem cells for potential future use.

Private cord blood banking is common in the USA and collection and storage is beginning to increase in the UK.

Current uses of stem cells are limited to a few medical conditions.

Stem cell collection enables the cord blood stem cells to be used in the treatment of malignant blood disorders, such as leukaemia, as an alternative to bone marrow transplantation.

Since stem cell transplantation is limited to relatively rare, specific conditions, the chance of your child requiring their own stem cells is extremely small. However, the future for using collected stem cells is potentially huge.

Although of limited use at present, advances in stem cell research could unlock the potential for stem cells to be used to treat other conditions in future.