A serious safety warning has been instigated concerning cord blood held at the Canadian Cord Blood bioRepository (CCBR) in Edmonton. The alert has effect for all cord blood collected, processed, tested, and stored from the 1st of March, 2014, extending to the present day.
Upon an inspection by Health Canada, manifold issues were discovered at the CCBR centre. Detriments including cord blood handling, testing and storage amidst conditions of filth, or cleaned using expired disinfectants were found. Moreover, lax monitoring of temperature and humidity, and contamination in areas designed for cord blood operations also emerged.
The inspection further revealed organizational shortcomings such as a scarcity of competent personnel, uncalibrated machinery, deviations from established procedures by the staff, coupled with insufficient record maintenance.
According to Health Canada, the cord blood under these circumstances could harbor significant health perils. The health authority discovered CCBR’s online promotion implying that cord blood stored by the repository could be of use to people beyond the blood donors. However, CCBR is only authorized legally to retain cord blood for donor usage.
Direction has been given to CCBR to communicate current safety apprehensions to the customers who have their cord blood stored at the facility. They are required to halt the action of gathering, processing, and storing any new cord blood under unclean conditions. Additionally, they need to develop an action plan detailing the rectification of sanitary, quality assurance, operational, and promotional concerns.
For anyone considering usage of their cord blood stored at CCBR, it is recommended that they have it tested by a credible third party prior to use.
