Abstract

CASADO-BLANCO, Mariano  and  IBANEZ-BERNALDEZ, María. Legal and ethical controversies regarding umbilical cord blood. Medicas UIS [online]. 2015, vol.28, n.1, pp.99-108. ISSN 0121-0319.

Until relatively short time, umbilical cordon blood was discarded due to biological material was deemed unusable. Currently this biological material has become in a health resource of first order, while in a potential object lucrative. Around 75% of the umbilical cord blood banks in the world, are publics and nonprofit, which seek a service for the common benefit, though umbilical cord blood is also stored for family use in the case of a known risk in a specific family. The remaining 25% are private commercial banks, for autologous use, a service whose purpose is to conserve cord blood cells for the benefit of their own "exclusive" clients. The recent impact of the extraction, preservation and application of umbilical cordon blood activities, have helped to revive social interest around the preservation in private banks and / or public ones and thus the ethical and legal issues arising. In this review article, we try to expose positions and disagreements over the establishment of private umbilical cord blood bank, and the absence of specific legislation. We also try to show the lack of solid and ethical arguments that support utility of umbilical cord blood banks for autologous use and we establish criteria in defense of public banks. MÉD UIS. 2015;28(1):99-108

Keywords : Fetal Blood; Umbilical Cord; Blood Banks; Legal Medicine; Ethics.

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