FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFrom: Martinez, Eduardo [Eduardo.Martinez@asm.ca.gov]
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 7:16 PM
Subject: Press Release -- Legislation to Create the California Public Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program Clears State Senate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Eduardo Martinez
September 10, 2007 916-319-2044
Legislation to Create the California Public Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program Clears State Senate
Assembly Bill 34 would create a widely accessible public umbilical cord blood banking program. Umbilical Cord Blood Cures 70 blood related diseases including leukemia and sickle cell anemia
Sacramento – Today the State Senate approved Assembly Bill 34, authored by Assemblymember Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge). If enacted, AB 34 establishes a statewide public umbilical blood collection program to promote and collect stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood.
Blood retrieved from the umbilical cord is a rich source of stem cells. Like bone marrow, cord blood can be used to treat various genetic disorders that affect the blood and immune system, leukemia and certain cancers, and other inherited disorders. According to the National Marrow Donor Program, there are 35,000 people who could benefit from marrow or cord blood transplants each year, many of whom die as a result of being unable to find suitable matches. This problem is exacerbated for communities of color who are less likely to find bone marrow matches and suffer from diseases such as sickle cell anemia. Once fully implemented, AB 34 will collect cord blood for widespread public use, but especially in ethnically diverse parts of the state.
Of the 500,000 births in California, umbilical cord blood is collected from a mere 3% of those births.
“This is a huge step forward for thousands of California families who have loved ones suffering from a blood-related disease,” said Portantino. “Since early December, when I introduced this bill, I’ve heard many individual stories about how umbilical cord blood saved their lives. Collecting cord blood is painless, inexpensive, is free from ethical debate, but we lack the public infrastructure to make cord blood widely available. AB 34 will go a long way to making harvesting umbilical cord blood as routine as signing the birth certificate.”
AB 34 also addresses a fundamental barrier to cord blood usage: affordability. “When my wife and I tried to donate our daughter’s cord blood, we found it extremely difficult and onerous to do,” explained Portantino. Indeed, commercial blood banks typically charge an initiation fee of between $1000 to $2000 and an annual maintenance fee of between $50 and $150, making cord blood banking unavailable to many Californians. “That experience made me realize that California needed to more to make cord blood as available as it should be to save lives.”
AB 34, the first bill Assemblymember Portantino introduced when he was sworn-in in December, was approved by the Senate on a vote of 39-1. Given the strong, bipartisan support AB 34 has enjoyed throughout the process, it is expected to pass the Assembly on Tuesday and head to the Governor’s desk for his consideration.
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