by Playfuls Staff |
2nd February 2007
Business mogul Richard Branson has started a business in London that gives British parents the opportunity to store their [more] children's stem cells.
For about $3,000, Branson's Virgin Health Bank will store the cells after they are collected from umbilical cords at birth, the Daily Mail reported.
Branson said the Virgin Health Bank would differ from Britain's seven cord blood banks because it would make cord blood available free to the National Health Service and hospitals, the newspaper reported.
Stem cells are used to treat leukemia and are the subject of research for treating other diseases.
"Over the last few years I have received many letters from distraught parents who were unable to find either bone marrow or stem cell matches for their sick children" Branson said in the Daily Mail. "It is increasingly apparent that there simply are not enough stem cells being collected."
Midwives were unhappy with the latest Virgin venture. "Collecting these samples is cumbersome and detracts from the primary task of the midwife," a Royal College of Midwives spokesman said in the Daily Mail.
© 2007 UPI
