[WillowTheWhisp]

For your sake and others like you garinda I hope that research is able to find a cure. There are probably many other things too which with a little investment, time and resources could be helped. I know this is a slight tangent but an awful lot of money is wasted on stupid pointless things which would be better directed to medical research.

I do agree with you that it has to be done ethically and it's the sensationalism which has been bandied about with headlines like "harvesting dead babies" and "growing embrios for research purposes" that gives people the fear that we are entering a nightmare scifi scenario. If these cells can be harvested from umbilical cords then surely it should be done as that doesn't affect anyone else. It just goes to show how uninformed we are and how useful it is discussing these topics on AccyWeb when we find people whop know more about it.

I think it's great that a blood sample is taken from the cord like you said Lettie because when I had my eldest daughter and they had to take blood from her in the hospital I felt like the cruelest person on earth as she screamed when I was holding her so they could put a needle into her. she seemed so tiny and the needle so huge by comparison. Then to make it worse they didn't get enough blood and had to come back and do it a second time just after I'd comforted her saying it was all over.