Cord Blood Myths Busted!

Let's bust some cord blood myths!!! The experts have spoken! Here is your chance to learn the facts on this life-saving medical resource. Discover our new educational video series: Cord Blood Myths - BUSTED!

Save the Cord Foundation and Cord Blood Association (CBA) have come together for an exclusive educational project designed to dispel some of the most common myths or misunderstandings regarding cord blood.  Working as a team, we interviewed key leaders and experts in the cord blood industry and several cord blood transplant recipients. The questions were collected and curated by CBA. The interviews were led by Charis Ober, Executive Director of Save the Cord Foundation, during the inaugral Cord Blood Connect meeting in Miami, Florida. To date, we have produced 9 videos highlighting a selection of the common cord blood myths provided by CBA. 

We recommend you begin exploring this educational series by watching this interview with Dr. Colleen Delaney and her patient, Gregg Gordon. 

Watch the entire series:
​"Cord Blood Myths - BUSTED!"

• Learn and share with a friend.
• Help stop the spread of misinformation regarding this life-saving medical resource.​
• You could save a life!

Our sincere thanks to Nicole Valcic for lending us her expertise in video editing. 

Unfortunately, there are many cord blood myths that have persisted over the years. Often these myths are born out of good intentions but not based on any real proof. For example, many people will tell you that you can donate cord blood at any hospital. This is simply not true. True public donation programs are few and far between. This is often due to logistics, costs for the hospital and/or lack of awareness. It is a myth that you can donate at any hospital.

Below is the full list of myths collected by the members of Cord Blood Association.  Each of these myths have been dispelled by the CBA team of experts. To get the FACTS on these cord blood myths, we encourage you to visit to the CBA website and explore our section dedicated to frequently asked questions about cord blood.

Myth:  Cord blood is a medical waste that has no value.

Myth:  Cord blood collection could affect or harm my baby.

Myth:  Expecting parents have up until the time of the baby’s delivery to decide to collect or donate cord blood.

Myth:  Cord blood can be donated at almost any hospital.

Myth:  Cord blood stored in a family bank can be used for treating anyone in the family.

Myth:  There is little reason to store cord blood since stem cells can be accessed from other sources, such as bone marrow.

Myth:  Cord blood treatments are experimental.

Myth:  When clamping of the umbilical cord is delayed, there aren’t enough stem cells left in the cord to make storage or donation worthwhile.

Myth:  I can donate my baby’s cord blood to a public bank if I no longer want to store it privately.

Myth:  Cord blood transplantation is limited to the treatment of hematologic or blood diseases.

Myth:  Cord blood therapies are limited to the treatment of children.

Myth:  Stored cord blood has a limited “shelf-life.”

Myth:  If I need stem cells from a public bank, they are free.

Myth:  Family cord blood banks have few quality standards.

Myth:  Private family banking only makes sense if there is a history of blood diseases in the family.

Myth:  Since I banked cord blood for my first child, I don’t need to store cord blood for the second child.

Myth:  If I choose to save cord blood for my child at birth, I do not need to also save cord tissue.

Myth:  Cord blood stem cells when transplanted can cause a malignancy in the recipient.

​Myth:  A unit of cord blood is a bag of stem cells.
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Myth:  If someone in my family needs a cord blood transplant, they can access a matched unit in a public bank only if I donated my baby’s cord blood to a public bank.