Published in the January 2007 issue of Pediatrics, the new statement “encourages families to donate their newborn's cord blood, which is normally discarded at birth, to cord blood banks (if accessible in their area) for use by other individuals in need. Storing cord blood at private banks for later personal or family use as a general ”˜insurance policy' is discouraged.”

According to the revised AAP policy statement, “the chances of a child needing his or her own cord blood stem cells in the future are estimated to range from one in 1,000 to one in 200,000. Private cord blood banks target parents at a potentially vulnerable time when the reality is most conditions that might be helped by cord blood stem cells already exist in the infant’s cord blood.”
The AAP does recommend “private cord blood banking for parents who have an older child with a medical condition that could potentially benefit from transplantation, such as a genetic immunodeficiency.”