Jason瘋英文 :回首頁

Cord blood bank defends itself against false claim charges (2013/08/16)

an umbilical cord / biblical / navel / belly button

A company specializing in cord blood storage is on the defense after a client accused it of making false claims. A mother, whose child suffered a serious injury, says the company told her cord blood could be used in nerve repair. The company insists it would only mention this kind of treatment as a potential area of future research.

A major car accident in January of this year left Hsun Hsun with permanent paralysis. The child has made some physical progress and is now finally able to smile. Hsun Hsun's mother said three years ago she spent NT$75,000 to store blood from Hsun Hsun’s umbilical cord at Baby Banks. She claims an employee of the company told her that this blood could be used to repair nerves. However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has deemed the technology immature in Taiwan and does not allow its use.

Hsun Hsun’s Mother

If the Ministry of Health and Welfare thinks it is unsafe and the technology is not yet in place in Taiwan, how can cord blood services be sold? I think this government is acting very strange.

However, Baby Banks believes the mother misinterpreted its message. The company insists that its staff said cord blood requires future research.

Liable / Libel ; crime of defamation

Deng Hsiu-yu

Baby Banks Manager

We are very sorry, really sorry. She must have been mistaken. Our staff explain to consumers very clearly what medical stage we are at and what the next phase of research is.

An investigation by local media found that Baby Banks only advertises its storage technology. It is much more conservative than competitors such as Health Banks and StemCyte, which say cord blood can be used in organ reconstruction.

Stored cord blood in Taiwan currently can only be used to treat thalassemia / the la sse mia / salad sea mia/ Mediterranean / and leukemia. It cannot be used for nerve repair or organ reconstruction.

If a company is found guilty of making such excessive claims, it could be liable for a fine of up to NT$500,000.

臍帶血誇大

有車禍病童的家屬，指控臍帶血業務，誇大療效，早上業者出面反駁，應該是對方聽錯，其實市面上不只這家公司，有疑似誇大嫌疑，其他家業務在推銷時，有的還宣稱，可以用臍帶血搭配3D列印技術，來複製器官，衛福部已經表明，如果有人檢舉，就要開罰。

今年一月一場大車禍，導致珣珣終身癱瘓，雖然現在已經進步到會笑著說話，不過珣珣的媽媽卻笑不出來，因為三年前花了75000元向臍帶血公司購買服務，她說當時業務員曾告知能修復神經，但衛福部卻以技術不成熟、法令不允許否決。
[[珣珣媽媽]]
“衛福部覺得這個東西不安全，他們覺得台灣可能技術也不到位，今天這麼不到位的東西，為什麼臍帶血可以賣，我覺得這個政府也很奇怪”

但臍帶血公司卻認為，是對方聽錯，業務員指的是未來的研究階段。

[[訊聯經理 鄧秀瑜]]
“我們也很遺憾，真的非常遺憾，她搞錯了，目前以我們業務人員跟消費者做說明的話，一定會分的很清楚，說現在呢層次，到什麼醫療階段，未來的研究階段是什麼”
臍帶血公司有沒有'神化'療效，有媒體滲入調查，訊聯確實只說公司分管儲存技術佳，相較於強調臍帶血可以用來器官再造的台灣生寶及美商永生保守許多。
再看看目前台灣臍帶血應用，只能治療地中海型貧血和白血病，其他包括神經修復，器官再造，通通不可以，一但被檢舉，最多可開罰50萬元。