Tulsa World Story on Cord Blood Bank Interim Study
December 4th, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma may be better served by joining a regional umbilical cord blood bank instead of creating its own, a Senate panel was told Thursday.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services conducted an interim study on the costs of a public umbilical cord blood bank.
Legislation passed in 2008 authorized the Oklahoma State Department of Health to work to establish one pending funding.
Mark Newman, the department's director of state and federal policy, said Oklahoma does not have enough births to support a blood bank.
A successful bank will require 3,000 to 5,000 usable samples per year.
The state's 50,000 live births per year would produce only 1,000 usable samples, Newman said.
"Of those that donate, only so many will be usable samples," he said.
The state may want to consider becoming part of a regional bank, he said.
Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, said the 2008 legislation allowed for entry into a regional bank.
Gumm said it might be cost prohibitive for families to preserve cord blood at a private bank, which is the only option Oklahoma has now.
Families that store cord blood could use the public bank for free, he said.
"Umbilical cord blood, now most often discarded as medical waste, is rich in adult stem cells, which can be used to treat a variety of illnesses," Gumm said.
"Among the maladies currently being treated with cord blood therapy are many cancers, leukemia, and several immune disorders," he said. "Researchers say the list of maladies treatable with cord blood will only expand."
Gumm said he realizes that the state does not have the money this year to create an umbilical cord blood bank.
But he wants a proposal to be ready to go when the economic climate improves, he said.
John Corpolongo, director of SoonerStart for the state Health Department, said a blood bank would cost about $5 million in startup funding and require even more in operational costs.
Barbara Hoberock - World Capitol Bureau