Quel statut pour les banques de sang de cordon ombilical ?

Despite the well-known therapeutic utility of cells derived from umbilical cord, the public health code still qualifies it as a simple operating waste what requires the adoption of an adapted legal status. This situation enabled the appearance of private commercial banks storing the blood of umbilical cord for autologous or intra-family purposes in spite of the absence of any authorization. This raises numerous questions of legal, ethical and social order. According to the French general principles in public health, only banks storing transplants for non-commercial allogeneic purposes are currently authorized in France. However, a bill would come to modify this situation by possibly allowing commercial banks. The Council of State, the Senate and the Government consider however that ethical requirements and public utility have to prevail in this domain. Recently, these principles have been resumed by a second bill. The next revision of the Bioethical law should revive the debate.