Texas Cord Blood Bank hosts visit
by Congressman Bonilla
Bonilla leads effort to gain federal support

SAN ANTONIO (June 1, 2006) – Congressman Henry Bonilla (R-TX-23rd) visited the Texas Cord Blood Bank (TCBB) at the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center in San Antonio yesterday for a full briefing and tour of the cord blood bank facilities as part of his efforts to assist the TCBB in securing federal funding. Bonilla is leading the efforts of the Texas delegation in Washington D.C. to help the Texas Cord Blood Bank obtain part of $79 million available in federal funding.

In December 2005, President Bush signed into law the C.W. Bill Young Transplantation Program legislation, which authorized federal funding toward cord blood banking and research in an effort to provide an additional 150,000 cord blood units for public use and establish a national matching system.

“We are delighted Congressman Bonilla was able to visit the cord blood bank today and thank him for his support,” said Dr. Norman Kalmin, President/CEO and Medical Director of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center. “The continued commitment of the Texas delegation in Washington is critical as we strive to provide the citizens of Texas and the nation with this life-saving resource.”

TCBB is the state’s first and only state-funded program established to create a public supply of umbilical cord blood.  Usually discarded after the birth of a healthy baby, umbilical cord blood is rich in blood-making cells that can be used, like bone-marrow transplants, to treat a number of potentially fatal diseases.  These include cancers, such as lymphoma and leukemias; disorders of the blood-making system, such as sickle-cell anemia; severe immune-system disorders; and genetic defects affecting the blood-making system.

“The Texas Cord Blood Bank is a vital, medical resource for our state and our nation,” Bonilla said. “There are fewer than 20 cord blood banks nationwide, and because of the ethnic diversity of Texas and the relationship between ethnicity and compatibility when patients are looking for a match, the Texas Cord Blood Bank is a unique program in the country that has the potential to save thousands of lives.”

TCBB began collecting donations of cord blood in June 2005 at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. The Bank has since collected more than 2,000 units of umbilical cord blood from mothers who have given birth to a healthy, full-term baby. The bank is gradually expanding collections to hospitals around the state. Both Valley Baptist-Medical Center-Harlingen and Brownsville are collecting, and TCBB officials are preparing to begin collections in Dallas.  Ramping up throughout the state will take time, due to strict regulatory requirements that must be followed at each donor site.

The Texas Legislature provided support to the Texas Cord Blood Bank through a $1 million start-up grant in 2004 and a $1.2 million matching grant in 2005. Governor Rick Perry, Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, and San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger have all pledged support for the program.

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