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Deposit your umbilical cords
Deposit your umbilical cords
Sunday, June 26, 2005 | AY
Privately-run banks are now giving parents-to-be the option of having stem cells collected from their baby's umbilical cord straight after birth and stored for up to 21 years as a living health insurance. Once the child is an adult, he or she can choose to continue banking the cells or donate them for use by others who need them. Stem cells are the foundation cells for every organ, tissue and cell in the body and can be developed into specialised tissues and organs or used to treat life-threatening diseases. Currently, they are used to treat 45 diseases and conditions such as thalassaemia, leukemia, sickle-cell anaemia and several cancers. The popular repository is the Mumbai-based Reliance Life Sciences, which was South Asia's first umbilical cord blood repository.
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