First, I would like to respond to the first question that was asked regarding Canada's involvement in stem cell research. Since the very beginning, Héma-Québec has said that we should support that kind of research, and that is what we have been doing since 2004. We have put 4,000 units in the bank, but nearly 10,000 others could not be added to the inventory and were made available to researchers. We work with five research centres in this area.
As for the regulations you referred to, you have the clinical component and the practical one. We are not directly involved in the clinical side. But clearly, we would like to see certain regulations relaxed, so that we, as cord blood suppliers, could improve our inventory, especially with respect to its ethnic diversity.
You are no doubt aware that there are many genetic differences between ethnic groups, and it can be hard to recruit people who do not meet the basic criteria, such as those governing hemoglobin or sometimes even exposure to malaria or HIV Group O, in certain African nations. Some criteria such as those should be improved, so that we can further develop our public bank.
We have talked a lot about the need to recruit donors from different ethnic groups. For example, according to figures put out by the New York Blood Center's National Cord Blood Program, even though just 9% of blood is donated by people of Asian ethnicity, there is compatibility with 50% of donors.