UPDATE: Newborn Testing Bill passes House of Representatives

This is ridiculous. "Required genetic screening"? Do now parents don't have a choice to refuse their child's genes being filed away?

What good is this going to do anyway? Genetic diseases are NOT CURABLE with todays technology.

Fennec, I agree 100%. This is sending us down a dangerous path, and this story is buried beneath mindless election drivel.

I've started this comment a dozen times and I get so furious I loose my train of thought and have to start over again. "Required genetic screening" is truely frightening, and absolutely wrong no matter how cute the reason the Federal government gives. This is a decision that should be made between parents and doctors armed with the latest medical information.
Yet another inefficient dinosaur of a bureaucratic agency getting involved in our health care pushing up costs and lowering quality is not my idea of helping kids with genetic disorders. The fact that the federal government went through the trouble of making a "law" instead of providing guidelines for the states is highly suspicious to me.
Twila Brase, president of the Citizens' Council on Health Care states that S.1858 and H.R. 3825, the House version of the bill, will:

* Establish a national list of genetic conditions for which newborns and children are to be tested.
* Establish protocols for the linking and sharing of genetic test results nationwide.
* Build surveillance systems for tracking the health status and health outcomes of individuals diagnosed at birth with a genetic defect or trait.
* Use the newborn screening program as an opportunity for government agencies to identify, list, and study "secondary conditions" of individuals and their families.
* Subject citizens to genetic research without their knowledge or consent.
"Soon, under this bill, the DNA of all citizens will be housed in government genomic biobanks and considered governmental property for government research," Brase writes. "The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research."

"The public is clueless. S. 1858 imposes a federal agenda of DNA databanking and population-wide genetic research. It does not require consent and there are no requirements to fully inform parents about the warehousing of their child's DNA for the purpose of genetic research."

http://www.cchconline.org/

http://www.cchconline.org/pdf/S_1858_NBS-DNAW...

Really people. Get a clue. Politicians are not our friends, nor have they been public 'servents' in a very, very, very long time. No government is our friend. It's just the nature of beast. It's time to stop feeding it treats for bad behavior and get back to the whip, a little exercise, and some hunger to clarify the vision of who they really work for. Downsize DC. http://www.downsizedc.org/

Sorry about the spelling and general grammar issues; I was too excited and posted before I spell checked.