[Pic: Nicholas Lee and Magdalen Shew playing with their six-month-old girl, Nicole Kate Lee. Nicole's parents have stored her cord blood at private bank StemCord.]

CALL it biological insurance. More parents here are storing their newborn's umbilical cord blood, in case it is needed to treat illnesses in future.

About 24,000 Singaporeans now store their children's cord blood with two private banks here, StemCord and CordLife, and the numbers are growing. This is almost double the 11,500 Singaporean clients they had in 2006.

Cord blood is rich in stem cells, which could be used to treat diseases such as cancer and blood disorders.

CordLife and StemCord offer their customer exclusive rights to the cord blood, as opposed to the public bank, where it is available to whoever needs it.

The Singapore Cord Blood Bank (SCBB), a public bank, is an independent organisation located at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

Leaving cord blood at private banks guarantees a perfect match for the baby, and can potentially increase the odds of having a match for the baby's siblings and parents.

Take six-month-old Nicole Kate Lee for instance. Her parents Nicholas Lee, 35, and Magdalen Shew, 36, signed up with StemCord last year.

Ms Shew, who runs a pottery school in the Funan DigitaLife Mall, told my paper: "There's a lot of research on stem cells. I don't want to wait till they discover everything, and realise we hadn't stored the blood, which can only be done at the point of birth.

The couple chose the company because of the profile of its founders. One of them is Dr Ang Peng Tiam, a noted oncologist.

They paid $800 for the initial setup, and then, $250 per year.

Mr Mitchell Ong, 35, and Ms Veronica Yong, 29, are clients of CordLife. They stored their son Aidan's cord blood when he was born in 2005. Aidan is now just over two years old.

They chose CordLife because they could pay the one-time registration fee of over $1,000 in monthly instalments. Annual storage costs the same as Stem- Cord's.

Said Ms Yong, an assistant general manager: "I think cord blood banking will become a regular thing, something that you don't need to give much thought to, like vaccination. It all boils down to wanting the best for your child."

Both CordLife and StemCord are seeing their client list grow. CordLife, which started in 2001, said it has about 12,500 Singaporean clients now. The total number of clients who signed up last year went up by 47 per cent compared with 2006, said CEO Steven Fang.

Most of them are PMEBs, aged 25 to 39, from middle-income to high-income groups.

"We believe that in the near future, more parents will opt for cord blood banking as more stem cell applications are proved to be able to treat lifestyle diseases such as heart disease and diabetes," said Mr Fang.

About 11,500 Singaporeans have signed up with StemCord, which opened in 2002. In 2007, it saw a 17 per cent growth in the total number of clients.

Alternatively, there is the SCBB, a public bank which opened in 2005. Parents can donate their child's cord blood to it for free, but will not have exclusive rights to it. They also have access to the more than 3,000 cord blood units stored there now.

The chances of a child needing his or her own cord blood stem cells in the future are estimated to range from one in 1,000 to one in 200,000, said the American Academy of Paediatrics in a statement last year.

Storing cord blood at private banks for later personal or family use as a general "insurance policy" is discouraged, it said.

Dr Chua Hshan Cher, 29, a medical officer, and his wife Michelle Cheng, 28, a medical affairs associate, chose to donate their son Ethan's cord blood to the SCBB last Nov.

Said Dr Chua: "There is a chance you may actually save someone."

marcelp@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in my paper on Mar 6, 2008.