Comments Requested on Proposed Standards: The National Bone Marrow Donor Registry

The National Bone Marrow Donor Registry (NBMDR) is operated under a contract between the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), a nonprofit organization that makes blood stem cell transplants possible for patients who do not have matching donors in their families. The NMDP helps patients with leukemia and other life threatening blood disorders obtain transplants by finding tissue-matched unrelated volunteer donors and cord blood units.

The NMDP has established basic guidelines for programs working as part of its network of centers. The types of member centers in the network are: donor recruitment organizations, marrow or peripheral blood collection organizations, transplant centers, and cord blood banks. These guidelines are defined within the NMDP Standards. A proposed revision to the 18th edition of the Standards, called the Draft 19th Edition NMDP Standards, is currently open for comment from members of the public and the NMDP network. The comment period ends December 31, 2003.

Visit the NMDP website to view or download the proposed new Standards. You may also submit comments electronically at that site or you may send comments via fax (612-884-8280) or mail to: The National Marrow Donor Program, QSMS Dept., 3001 Broadway Street, NE, Suite #500, Minneapolis, MN 55413. A paper copy of the Standards can be requested by sending an e-mail request to standards@nmdp.org or by calling 1-800-526-7809 and asking for the QSMS Department.