Licensing of cord blood collection comes into force in UK
This week saw the introduction of licensing agreements for UK premises that wish to undertake the collection of umbilical cord blood (UCB) stem cells on behalf of pregnant women. Cord blood has been collected and used in the treatment of certain blood diseases such as leukaemia, and...
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'Who Gets born?': Pre-birth testing, Public Deliberation and the Bioethics Council
by Dr Cordelia Thomas
There is an international trend to greater public participation in government decision making, resulting in a movement toward 'public consultation' or 'public engagement'. These require two-way communication, transparency of the decision making process and meaningful incorporation of public input into that process. However, in practice, much consultation involves tightly-scripted opportunities...
Good regulation is all about the implementation: Lessons learnt from implementing new legislation
by Imogen Swann
On 5 July Regulations will be enforced that will require the procurement (collection) of cells and tissues for human treatment, including cord blood, stem cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells, to take place under a licence from the Human Tissue Authority (HTA). The Regulations require that staff...