The RCM has released guidance that states midwives should not carry out this procedure, as their focus should be on a safe, healthy birth.
It says that only licensed, skilled technicians can collect the blood and this should be done in a designated area away from the delivery room.
Sue Macdonald, education and research manager at RCM, said: ‘There are two risks that we are perceiving.
‘Firstly, during the birth, especially if you’re the only midwife there, you can’t be collecting umbilical chord blood if your focus is on the mother and baby - it is just an additional task.’
She added that a second risk is if the cord is clamped too soon, the baby could be deprived of blood.
Over the past decade about 11,000 mothers have had the blood extraction and there are about a dozen private firms in the UK that offer the service.
Charges are as high as £1500 to collect and store the blood, which is kept in a laboratory freezer for up to 25 years.
The firms have their own trained staff to extract the blood, but they sometimes ask midwives to collect the blood, which contains stem cells and is extracted minutes after birth.
It is then stored to be used to treat the child in the future, should they ever develop leukaemia or another life-threatening disease.
About 2000 women a year also donate umbilical cord blood to the NHS, at select hospitals.
The RCM and the
RCOG say the NHS scheme is safe, as highly trained technicians extract the blood, not midwives.
