In 2023, thousands of cord blood units stored at
Following from the initial discovery in
Withers has been approached by several families in this crisis.
We highlight three key questions affected families should consider.
What is at stake?
It is clear that what is at stake goes beyond the simple question of a refund of fees. Families have legitimate concerns over the loss of something irreplaceable - cord blood collected at childbirth for the express purpose of protecting the lives of those children or family members, with many possible applications to be developed in the future. For the affected families and individuals, this raises complex issues, particularly if stem cell treatments have or will be developed for diseases that they suffer from. Preserving that posibility was
The loss of stem cells could therefore have a serious impact on a child's health outcomes if such a treatment becomes available and necessary. Such haematopoietic stem cells associated with a child would be a perfect biological match and may potentially replace almost any other cell in the human body.
What went wrong and who is to blame?
As
On the other hand, the
Cordlife's temperature monitoring system failed to send notifications of the temperature excursions in two tanks to CGL's personnel between February andJune 2022 .Cordlife's six-monthly preventative maintenance was not carried out for two tanks in 2022.Cordlife implemented a new cord blood processing method inAugust 2023 , which was not properly validated according to approved plan and protocol.
This raises many questions: Who designed the monitoring system? Why was there not an inbuilt backup failsafe in the system such that alerts would be sent out if the main monitoring system was not working? Were there processes in place to supervise the routine running of the monitoring system, and what were the systems in place to ensure compliance of such processes? Who was responsible for maintaining the system and how was maintenance carried out if at all? What caused the monitoring system to fail and how was the failure detected and rectified?
How complex is the valuation exercise?
If damages beyond the fees paid are in fact available, the approach to valuation methodologies will have to be carefully considered. This matter raises complex considerations.
One may argue at first instance that cord blood is not that valuable because it would likely be quite rare that a child would need to use it. There are statistics which demonstrate that cord blood is not commonly used. Bloomberg reports that a study found only one in 400 children to one in 200,000 children with stored cord blood would be able to use it throughout their lifetime.4
At the same time, there is an obvious and viable alternative in adult stem cells even if cord stem cells are irreplaceable. However, adult stem cells carry the risk of being impaired by toxins, changes in DNA and more, and come with the challenge of host diseases and the need to find a match.
However, further consideration suggests that this analysis may not be complete. A key reason for the low utilisation so far could be that the attendant technology is still relatively new. The opportunities that cord stem cells can bring to further human health, well-being and mortality are still being explored.
Indeed, from cell re-generation, curing cancer, organ transplant, treatment of neurological issues and more, the potential for stem cells are endless (and is in fact a core aspect of the futuristic transhumanism movement). There are studies which opine that in the near future, one in every three persons will require regenerative therapy.5
Ironically, one cannot rule out the possibility that advancements in bio-technology could make cord blood less useful, where a lot more could be achieved with advanced technology using adult stem cells instead. The future of cord blood nevertheless seems bright, as the substantial funds raised by
At what recourse?
Ideally, families would want to have recourse that would be internationally enforceable.
Conclusion
Withers will be conducting a townhall for affected families in early
Footnotes
1. https://www.cordlife.com/sg/life-changing-decision#:~:text=Your%20child's%20umbilical%20cord%20blood%20is%20a%20100%25%20match%20for,(self%2Duse)%20treatments.
2. https://www.cordlife.com/guiding-principles
3. https://cells4life.com/cord-blood-banking-overview/
4. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-21/cordlife-scandal-fury-as-thousands-of-stem-cell-samples-destroyed-in-singapore
5. Harris, David T. "Cord Blood Stem Cells: A Review of Potential Neurological Applications" Stem Cell Review 2008 4:269-274 https://stemcelltreatmentnow.com/files/studies/Cord-Blood-Stem-Cells-A-Review-of-Potential-Neurological-Applications.pdf
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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