Under a little-known act called The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007 (S1858), GW Shrub signed into national law something that had been going on behind the scenes for half a century. It started in the 1960s at the state level.
For almost 50 years, the law has required hospitals to take drops of blood from newborn babies, dry them on cards and screen them for genetic diseases that can kill or permanently disable their victims. These tests identify thousands of affected babies each year. Because of early recognition of their diseases, many can expect to live normal or near-normal lives.
The number of tests performed has increased as scientific knowledge has grown. Depending on the state, babies are now tested for between 28 and 54 different conditions. And you’ll never know about it unless one of the tests comes up positive. Then you’ll probably be glad to have that information. But S1858 changed the game. It gives the federal government direct ownership of that blood, and allows the government to do any sort of storage, testing, experimentation, or selling of the material that it desires.
I don’t know about you, but even though I can see the “good” that can come out of this, it still feels creepy to me. Although there are procedures in place that allow you to circumvent the State’s long-term storage of your blood, that doesn’t seem to be true at the federal level. And I’m getting pretty fed up with the government’s taking away all of our private information and storing it. Even if the current people in power don’t have any weird or crazy plans to use all that stuff against the population, that doesn’t mean someone else down the road won’t do it.
I guess I’m just a silly paranoid, but, as the saying goes, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not out to get us. And I, for one, would prefer they had a little bit less ammunition when they decide to change their priorities…