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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (18 June) . . Page.. 2090 ..

MR SMYTH

Currently, it costs around $800 to collect, process, test and store one umbilical cord blood unit. To provide suitable cord blood from the Australian Cord Blood Bank for transplantation costs around $16,000. In one sense, these figures are nothing when we are talking about saving a life. Large, sophisticated equipment is required to maintain the integrity of the frozen cord blood, and specialised machinery is needed to perform tests to tell us about the quality of the cord blood collected.

Currently, some requirements for treating leukaemia, cancer and other potentially fatal diseases are met by seeking and obtaining cord blood units from overseas banks, but the price tag is high-as much as $30,000. You have to ask why the blood cannot just be donated and then sent to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane? Indeed, that is a question we would all ask ourselves, confronted with such an issue. It is a possibility. The cord blood could be stored here and then sent to Sydney in the appropriate storage at the right temperature, but there are many risks involved, including contamination-not to mention the costs of transportation and hiring specialist staff.

Upon speaking to the Australian Cord Blood Bank, I was told that it is preferable that the birth take place at a hospital that is experienced in collecting and storing the cord blood. The collection, processing and storage of cord blood are specialised techniques that need to be performed by trained personnel. Cord blood is collected immediately after the birth of the baby after the cord has been cut. It is vital to collect the blood from the cord as soon as possible because the blood starts to, in medical terms, "dot"quickly. If this happens the cord blood is useless for banking. It is also important to ensure that the cord blood is not contaminated. (Extension of time granted.) If this occurs it could cause serious infection problems for the patient at the time of use as they are probably not able to fight off infection.

Cord blood needs to be processed and frozen as soon as practicable after collection. Research with cord blood shows that it deteriorates if it is not processed and stored within 24 to 36 hours after collection. The transportation of cord blood is another issue that can impact on its final usefulness. Cord blood must be kept cool if it is not processed immediately. Leaving it in a warm place will cause it to deteriorate. After collection, the cord blood is processed, frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of minus 196 degrees Celsius until it is needed.

Therefore, it would be preferable for the ACT to have its own collection and storage site. I am happy for the government to explore the options for allowing the collection of umbilical cord blood in Canberra, say, through staffing measures and the transportation of the cord blood to the nearest storage site in Sydney. My guess, though, is that this would become more costly over the years than establishing our own collection and storage site-and possibly less effective, given the immediate need for processing and storage.

For members of this place the health and wellbeing of our citizens is paramount. We all believe that. We need to explore each and every option that might give cancer patients a better shot at longer and more fulfilling lives.

I will conclude with a short story of another success using cord blood. In what could be a world first, doctors at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal last year transfused a woman suffering from leukaemia with the umbilical cord blood of her own baby, a

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