Community | February 05, 2010 | 6 comments

PARENTS!!! The Government Has Your Baby’s DNA …Without Your Permission!!!

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ctpatriot1970
When Annie Brown’s daughter, Isabel, was a month old, her pediatrician asked Brown and her husband to sit down because he had some bad news to tell them: Isabel carried a gene that put her at risk for cystic fibrosis.

See the Full Story on How The Government is Keeping Your Childs DNA...Without your Consent....http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/parents-the-government-has-your-ba...

While grateful to have the information — Isabel received further testing and she doesn’t have the disease — the Mankato, Minnesota, couple wondered how the doctor knew about Isabel’s genes in the first place. After all, they’d never consented to genetic testing.

It’s simple, the pediatrician answered: Newborn babies in the United States are routinely screened for a panel of genetic diseases. Since the testing is mandated by the government, it’s often done without the parents’ consent, according to Brad Therrell, director of the National Newborn Screening & Genetics Resource Center.
  1. groups:
    Community,   PARENT RIGHTS
  2. tags:
    Obama,  Government,  United States,  Florida,  14 more
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6 comments // PARENTS!!! The Government Has Your Baby’s DNA …Without Your Permission!!!

  • FoosMaster
    • 0
      FoosMaster  

    • And who has access to that imformation? I'll bet the law that makes the testing mandatory was written by the Insurance industry. They want to know who they need to turn down or charge an outrageous fee to in the future. Hmmm.

    • 2 years ago
  • flyingkick
    • +1
      flyingkick  

    • “Why do they need to store my baby’s DNA indefinitely? Something on there could affect her ability to get a job later on, or get health insurance.”

      That's a problem with Health Insurance companies, not hospital policy.

    • 2 years ago
  • fun_size
  • crazycatgirl
  • UndoInfluence
    • 0
      UndoInfluence  

    • If they would allow parents to opt out of this genetic profiling then they should immediately imprison the parents who choose to opt out on severe negligence. The testing is so amazingly important to do that it's surprising anyone would admit to raising a stink about it. Crazycatgirl is right, these tests are done to prevent genetic disorders from completely ruining lives.

    • 2 years ago
  • crazycatgirl
    • 0
      crazycatgirl  

    • The newborn screening thats done in the US can be really helpful - it tests for up to 40 different disorders - genetic, metabolic and hormonal - like PKU for instance, which causes mental retardation unless the baby avoids certain foods that contain phenylalanine - why wouldn't you want to know that?

      I understand the "fear" of government having too much information -I think this is a problem if they are keeping and cataloging the DNA for future use - a serious violation of privacy- but if its the 1 time screening for disease only - I think its theoretically helpfuly- they do it before the kid has any symptoms in hopes of avoiding illness altogether by catching it early -

      I get the argument that the parents should be allowed to opt out of the testing, its their child- but I think the fear is that a lot of parents are too misinformed - or just plain stupid - so they're going to opt out of something that could be potentially super beneficial for their kids!

      or we could just leave it all up to natural selection............

    • 2 years ago
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