Senator Cathy Cook, R-Mystic, today applauded Wednesday evening’s Senate passage of her legislation that calls for looking into the feasibility of establishing a public umbilical cord blood bank in Connecticut.

The legislation, passed as an amendment co-sponsored by Senator Cook to Senate Bill 311, is pending further action this week by the House of Representatives.

“A public umbilical cord blood bank would be a tremendous service to Connecticut residents. Usually, umbilical cords are discarded at birth even though we now know that, like donate bone marrow, the stem cells from blood in umbilical cords can be used to treat genetic disorders, certain types of cancer, such as leukemia, and some inherited body chemistry disorders,” said Senator Cook.

Senator Cook’s legislation calls for directing the State Commissioner of Public Health, in consultation with the state’s Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee, to create an ad hoc committee to examine and evaluate the feasibility of establishing a public umbilical cord blood bank to collect and store umbilical cord blood and placental tissue donated by maternity patients at all Connecticut hospitals. The umbilical chord blood cells would be available for patient treatment and also for stem cell research.   Also, the ad hoc committee would look into the feasibility of entering into multi-state public umbilical cord collaboration, and developing a public-private partnership with existing umbilical cord blood banks. The state’s public health commissioner would report the ad hoc committee’s findings and recommendations to the General Assembly’s Public Health Committee by January.

“It is my understanding that Connecticut residents can now contract for the services offered by private cord blood banks to preserve their infants’ cord blood for their own use, but these services cost in excess of $3000 per birth. We want to look into the feasibility and benefits of having a public bank that would donate umbilical cord blood cells for both research and treatment. With this legislation, Connecticut will join the ranks of several other states that are taking action to promote the establishment of cord blood banks,” said Senator Cook.