The biotech company, Arteriocyte, can turn an umbilical cord into 20 units of blood in about three days at a cost of about $5,000 per unit. That's a bit steep, but if the FDA approves the blood product and the company is able to scale the production method, fake blood could be the real deal.
Fortunately, It is made from the umbilical cords of third world babies, because we all know that it's the suffering that locks in the flavor.
The blood was produced using hematopoietic cells, derived from embryonic cord-blood units. Currently, it takes Arteriocyte scientists three days to turn a single umbilical cord unit into 20 units of RBC-packed blood. The average soldier needs six units during trauma treatment. "We're basically mimicking bone marrow in a lab environment," company CEO Don Brown tells Danger Room.
