Tues. Nightline: interesting, but is it really Nightline material? WTF?

here's their email:



Banking on Your Future

Oct. 4, 2005

Expectant parents are bombarded with all sorts of information these days. Certainly we know an awful lot more about pregnancy, health care and how to look after yourself and your baby. But how do you sort it all out: the serious from the frivolous, the common sense from the cutting-edge science? Tonight we'll take a look at a new advancement in science on which expectant parents are being asked to decide.

"Nightline" Senior Producer Madhulika Sikka writes:

When I was pregnant with my first child, I remember being overwhelmed by fear, as if I were the first woman in the world to have a baby – I had to have everything just so, and if I messed up on just one thing then we were doomed. I was going to do absolutely everything right for my new baby; the health and welfare of that child was paramount, of course. No one would be able to accuse me of being a negligent mother. I did all the tests I was supposed to do and studied all the leaflets they handed out to me about the possibility of developing diabetes during pregnancy, about jaundice in a newborn, about postpartum depression, about the benefits of breastfeeding.

Tucked into that packet of information was a leaflet about storing the blood from my child's umbilical cord. It was billed as an insurance policy; cord blood has stem cells that may be useful in treating certain diseases, so what would make more sense than storing cord blood that would be a perfect match just in case my child should need it in the future? It was a relatively new phenomenon, and I don't remember paying much attention to it, except I do remember that it cost a couple thousand dollars initially and then a couple hundred dollars a year in perpetuity. What I didn't know was that the cord blood might also be useful to other potential patients (just like blood banks or bone marrow).

Well, storing cord blood is a growing phenomenon – private cord blood banks across the country are providing storage for thousands of parents – and there are a lot of parents out there who think they will be letting their children down if they don't participate. The question is, how useful are they? And if storing cord blood is a useful thing to do, should there be more public cord blood banks accessible to everyone, including those who might not be able to afford private banks? We'll take a look at the issue tonight. We'll examine the science and the social implications of this new trend in medicine. Is it an example of a scientific breakthrough vital to all, or an example of 'boutique medicine' dividing those with means from those without?

Ted Koppel anchors. We hope you'll join us.

Madhulika Sikka and the "Nightline" staff
Senior Producer
ABC News Washington Bureau

The news media....even Ted Koppel....refuse to report on what is going on in this country:

The atrocities in Iraq
The atrocities in New Orleans & the areas devastated by hurricanes
The atrocities being committed with every single bill passed by republican majorities.
The atrocities being done with privatizing prisons and the military
The atrocities about our privatized elections that only seem to count votes for republican candidates.

There will BE NO REPORTING of these atrocities. If the American people knew what was going on, there would be a HUGE country-wide rebellion.

:kick::kick::kick:

are better left to the tabloidy shows like 20-20, dateline etc.. although THOSE venues used to do hard news too.. There was a time when invesitgative journalism was a hot item, and all the networks rushed to get their own shows on the air.. of course, THEN they found out how expensive it was to investigate, and how they were vulnerable to lawsuits if they goofed up, aso the retreated to the "safe" stuff..

The information they impart is not NEW or SHOCKING.. It's just more Dr.Phil-ish claptrap common sense your grandma told you stuff..

Their Friday night broadcasts have long been reserved for lighter/feature pieces, and that's when that one ran. It's a pretty serious issue, too--and one that the corporate food and beverage companies want us NOT to pay attention to.

As for this mid-week episode on cord blood, that just seems weird.

material for stem cells).

.......'boutique medicine' dividing those with means from those without?

Can you believe it?