Cord blood can be used instead of bone marrow for transplantation to reconstitute the haemopoietic and immune systems. Additional claims have been made by commercial cord blood banks for the use of cord blood as a treatment for a variety of other conditions that currently have little practical foundation. This is one of a number of ethical issues relating to cord blood banking that requires consideration. There is a need to assess whether non-haemopoietic stem cells are present in cord blood in sufficient quantity to make them a useful source for tissue or organ ‘engineering'.
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