Soon after Victoria Wieslander gave birth to little Andreas at St Luke's Hospital on February 4 she sent her umbilical cord blood to England where it will be refrigerated for the next 25 years.
"That blood contains Andreas' adult stem cells and may save his life later should he contract an illness such as leukaemia or cancer," she said.
Ms Wieslander is the first parent to have stored her child's stem cells after giving birth in a Maltese state hospital, but is sure she will not be the last. Another family, in fact, collected their newborn's cord blood in Gozo.
Stem cells, which are the foundation of every organ in the body, are immature cells which, if triggered in the right manner, can develop into a wide range of specialised tissues and organs. They have proven to cure up to 45 diseases and disorders.
A promising scientific area, it is highly controversial mostly due to an ethical debate on whether embryos may be used for scientific research when they are potential human beings.
"Using umbilical cord blood, however, does away with the ethical objections and is a form of security in a child's future," Sylvana Brannon, managing director of Smart Cells (Malta), said yesterday.
Ms Brannon, who stored her children's umbilical cord blood at Smart Cells International, became the company's local representative and hopes she will help other families do so.
She explained that in normal vaginal birth, a blood bag is filled before the umbilical cord and placenta are torn, but blood can still be extracted also after Caesarian delivery.
"The blood sample is packed and immediately sent to England by courier," Ms Brannon said.
The legal representative of Smart Cells (Malta), Jason Azzopardi, said storing umbilical cord blood does not get involved in ethical and moral issues inherent in embryonic stem cell research.
"While cord blood stem cells have been widely used for treatments, embryonic stem cells have yet to be used to treat any form of disease and have many legal, moral, ethical and religious objections before even the practicalities of obtaining the cells, growing them, storing them and, not least, transplanting them are addressed," Dr Azzopardi said.
Smart Cells (Malta) has signed an agreement with the Department of Health and the procedure is now available in both private and public hospitals.
Victor Calvagna, Josie Muscat, St Luke's Hospital's midwifery services head Natalie Zammit and obstetric consultant John Mamo sit on a local medical advisory board on behalf of Smart Cells International.
Smart Cells (Malta) will be holding regular seminars and carrying one-to-one consultations with interested families. It invited those who need more information to visit www.smartcellsmalta.com.