They’re being researched as a possible cure to conditions as varied as cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, hearing loss and type 1 diabetes, and cord blood stem cells are already used to treat more than 80 blood-related diseases such as leukaemia, multiple myeloma and sickle cell anaemia. Stem cells can also be used as an alternative to a bone marrow transplant. While it’s perfectly possible to harvest stem cells from your body later in life, cord blood stem cells are considered to be better quality because they haven’t been exposed to ageing, pollutants or disease. “There are currently 4 000 trials involving stem cells worldwide, with more than 200 of these trials
