The stem cells are collected from the cord immediately following the birth and involves no pain for either mother or baby. This blood was formerly disgarded as waste and it's use poses absolutely no threat to baby or mom.
The stem cells obtained from the umbilicial cord are more useful than other types of stem cells used because they have the ability to develop into any type of cell. In addition, it doesn't require as close a match to the recipient compared to other types of stem cells.
I would like to pose the question, why is the medical community not routinely harvesting these cells? It seems to me that the benefit of collecting these cells routinely would far exceed any invasion to one's privacy this procedure may pose.
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