North Haven Republican Sen. Len Fasano unveiled legislation Tuesday to set up a public cord blood collection program in Connecticut.
Currently there is just one private cord blood bank in the state. But that means donor families pay a huge fee to access the cord blood for their own use.
"If you have an individual that wants to store the blood, it is certainly their right to be able to do it. But think about its immediate likely uses: If the child develops leukemia, it's from the cells you just banked, you're not going to use those cells," explained Dr. Charles Lockwood, Yale School of Medicine.
Under the proposed plan, parents would have no control over the cord blood donated to the public bank.
"It's not guaranteed you're going to get to use it but you're helping other people and you might get that help in return, if somebody has donated blood. It's about people helping people," said Dr. Winston Campbell, UConn Health Center.
In fact, doctors say there's a one in 20 thousand chance in needing it. But the unique stem cells in a baby's cord blood, usually thrown out at birth, is vital to a number of medical treatments.
"People in Connecticut, who really need a transplant, would have access to cord blood provided by people from all over the country, who have also given their blood to a public bank in that area," said Dr. Edward Snyder, Yale School of Medicine.
That's because the public cord blood bank would be part of a national registry, which also impacts the cost. Instead of millions -- it's down to an initial cost of about $200,000. There are patients who've benefitted from the advances of stem cell research. State Representative Larry Miller used his own stem cells in his fight against multiple myeloma.
"I had a 5 year death sentence and that was 13 years ago. So its, every year is a bonus year for me. There is no cure for cancer," Miller said.
A public hearing is set for Wednesday at 10am before the Public Health Committee at the Legislative Office Building.
