Regional regulations which allow the construction of a bone marrow bank for hematopoietic stem cells have been passed in northeast China's Liaoning Province, says the local Red Cross society.
Approved by the province's ninth people's congress, the regulations are entitled "Methods for Implementing the Law of the Red Cross Society of the People's Republic of China by Liaoning Province" and came into effect on November 1.
This is the first time China's regional regulations have allowed the construction of a bone marrow bank.
Liu Linna, vice-chairman of the province's Red Cross Society, said the purpose of this regulation is to legalize and standardize the construction of a bone marrow bank and to guarantee its smooth operation.
Within the next three to five years the province's Red Cross Society plans to establish a bone marrow bank which will hold at least 10,000 donated stem cells for recipients to search, said Liu.
As the transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells is the major remedy for people suffering from leukemia and other aplastic anemia diseases, a sufficient stem cell supply must be assured.
Statistics show that currently there are up to four million Chinese awaiting transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells.
Every year in this country, about 36,000 people die from leukemia while another 36,000 contract the disease.
(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2001)
