Quite simply, cord blood is the remaining blood from your baby's umbilical cord and placenta after birth. Cord blood is loaded with our "stem cells" which are orgins of the body's immune and blood system and may be the orgin of other organs and important systems in the body. Stem cells are important because they have the ability to regenerate into other types of cells in the body.

A few years ago, cord blood was simply discarded as medical waste after a birth. However in the past few years doctors have recognized that the stem cells have unique qualities which can be used in treatment of certain cancers. The most common medical use is for tranplantation in many situations where bone marrow is considered. In the future, it is possible that scientists will discover more diseases that can be cured with cord blood.

Harvesting and banking cord blood is a fairly simple procedure that can be performed during vaginal or cesarian deliveries without interrupting the birth process. The doctor or nurse will collect the cord blood after the umbilical cord has been clamped. The collection of cord blood is not painful, intrusive or risky to the mother or baby.

Conclusion...

It might, just might save your baby's or another family member's life at some point in the future

You will only have one chance to bank your baby's cord blood; the moment immediately after birth.

The cord blood collection process is simple, painless, and harmless to the baby and mother.

30%-70% of people who need bone marrow transplants can not find a match. Finding a proper match is especially problematic for African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people of mixed ethnicity. By banking your baby's stem cells, the odds of having a proper match for the baby or another family member improve.

Especially beneficial if a family member has a condition that can be treated with a stem cell transplant, such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, aplastic anemia, leukemia, metabolic storage disorders and certain genetic immunodeficiencies.

Future medical advances might allow stem cells to treat even more diseases and be used in more tranplant cases than current medical practices.

It might, just might save your baby's or another family member's life at some point in the future
You will only have one chance to bank your baby's cord blood; the moment immediately after birth.
The cord blood collection process is simple, painless, and harmless to the baby and mother.

30%-70% of people who need bone marrow transplants can not find a match. Finding a proper match is especially problematic for African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people of mixed ethnicity. By banking your baby's stem cells, the odds of having a proper match for the baby or another family member improve.
Especially beneficial if a family member has a condition that can be treated with a stem cell transplant, such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, aplastic anemia, leukemia, metabolic storage disorders and certain genetic immunodeficiencies.
Future medical advances might allow stem cells to treat even more diseases and be used in more tranplant cases than current medical practices.

I've tried to summarize the argument for banking cord blood as succinctly as possible. If you visit the sites of various cord blood banks, you can find out some useful information. Each bank has a detailed (although biased) argument in favor of blood banking.

Cord blood can be used as an alternative to bone marrow transplantation.

Stem cells can be retrieved from umbilical cord blood. For this to occur, the mother must contact a cord blood bank before the baby’s birth. The cord blood bank may request that she complete a questionnaire and give a small blood sample.

Cord blood banks may be public or commercial. Public cord blood banks accept donations of cord blood and may provide the donated stem cells to another matched individual in their network. In contrast, commercial cord blood registries will store the cord blood for the family, in case it is needed later for the child or another family member.

After the baby is born and the umbilical cord has been cut, blood is retrieved from the umbilical cord and placenta. This process poses minimal health risk to the mother or the child. If the mother agrees, the umbilical cord blood is processed and frozen for storage by the cord blood bank. Only a small amount of blood can be retrieved from the umbilical cord and placenta, so the collected stem cells are typically used for children or small adults.

SenatorsDodd and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sam Brownback (R-KS), held a press conference to announce introduction of the Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2003. Representatives of the New York Blood Center, as well as patients who have been treated using cord blood stem cells, also participated.

The Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2003 would create a network of qualified cord blood banking centers to prepare, store, and distribute human umbilical cord blood stem cells for the treatment of patients and to support research using such cells. The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

Senator Woods, Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Family Services said:

"The Federal Government recognises the importance of establishing and expanding a cord blood bank and has recently provided $200,000 to the Australian Cord Blood Bank to undertake this life-saving work,"

"Cord blood is an excellent alternative to bone marrow transplantation in treating leukemia and cancers in children and it does not have the compatibility problems when matching donors with recipients.

"The Australian Cord Blood Bank will help decrease the number of Australian children waiting for transplants and by developing our own cord blood bank Australia will no longer have to rely solely on the generosity of international registries."

"In 1995 a seriously ill boy in Newcastle desperately required a bone marrow transplant but despite checking something like 3.5 million donors on worldwide registers there was no suitable donor to be found. Upon checking one cord blood bank, 10 possible donations were found and today, some 10 months later, that boy is well and has a much brighter future."