quesarah: (Default)
Intercourse, the penguin ([personal profile] quesarah) wrote2005-02-03 09:43 am
Entry tags:

Things every pregnant woman should know...

From Yahoo! News: Lawmaker Pushes Umbilical Cord Donation

SANTA FE, N.M. - A state senator is proposing that the state promote stem cell treatment from umbilical cords.

The Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Act, introduced Wednesday by Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, would require doctors to inform pregnant women about umbilical cord donation and require hospitals to allow pregnant patients to arrange for such donations.

"Only about 400 cord-blood transplants a year take place," said Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe. "A lot more lives could be saved."

She said it's possible such a donation could have helped her own daughter, Lori Rodriguez, 33, who died in November 2002 after pancreas surgery.

Stem cell treatment using blood from umbilical cords does not involve human embryos. Stem cells are used to treat more than 40 life-threatening diseases, including leukemia, breast cancer, other cancers and blood disorders.

Rodriguez said her interest was sparked by the case of an 8-year-old Albuquerque girl, Kailee Wells. The child, who has severe aplastic anemia in which bone marrow cannot produce new blood cells, is now in Wisconsin, recovering from a bone-marrow transplant.

Florida, Illinois, Texas and Maryland have laws promoting cord-blood donations, according to a memo from the Legislative Council Service.

Rodriguez's measure, Senate Bill 605, would provide $25,000 for the Department of Health to publish and distribute pamphlets with information on umbilical cord-blood donation.

"It's a good thing"

[identity profile] joebanks.livejournal.com 2005-02-03 06:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I was going to go into a rant about w and stem cell research but not now. Let's just be positive and be glad that people are being helped and educated on the matter.

Re: "It's a good thing"

[identity profile] biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com 2005-02-03 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, screw him and his evil band of cronies. This is a perfectly legal avenue of access, so let's be happy for it.

Re: "It's a good thing"

[identity profile] woe2you.livejournal.com 2005-02-04 09:32 am (UTC)(link)
Wonder how quickly he'd pull a U-turn if it were one of his who needed it?

Re: "It's a good thing"

[identity profile] biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com 2005-02-04 03:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Dude, he'd break his neck from whipping around so fast.

[identity profile] gonzo21.livejournal.com 2005-02-03 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah. That's interesting. They've found a way to persue stem cell research almost via the back door. I approve.

[identity profile] biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com 2005-02-03 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
As do I. Ha-ha Mister President, you can't stop it!

[identity profile] gonzo21.livejournal.com 2005-02-04 01:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Except deep down he probably doesn't want to stop it, because these stem cell therapies when they're available will probably be so expensive they'll only be available to the elite anyway, which is him and his kind, so for them, it all works out rather well. He'll just be playing voice service to condemning it because it plays well with his core supporters.

[identity profile] biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com 2005-02-04 03:34 pm (UTC)(link)
You are probably right. Which is why the revolution needs to start NOW.

[identity profile] gonzo21.livejournal.com 2005-02-04 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
The revolution really needed to start 10 years ago when the evangelical right first started getting organised and taking over. But none of us spotted what they were up to.

As for now... I'm still afraid that there just aren't enough people who care enough to do anything about it. If Kerry couldn't have mobilised more support than he did, then, a revolution, as much as we might hope... Just ain't gonna happen. At least not until the oil runs out, but when that happens, we're all screwed anyway.