Government has my baby's DNA?!

[MysticScorpio82]

Forgive me if there is already a discussion on this, but I just read this article by Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent. I pasted it on my blog ( http://mainefarmgirlwannabe.blogspot.com/ ) and I found it on Ivillage, right on the homepage. (I typically do not read CNN because all the crimes and death of children that are on there break my heart and makes me depressed), When I saw this I was SHOCKED!

Has anyone else heard anything about it or have any thoughts and comments about this?? The whole thing scares me a bit...

 

[Bantimna]

It would scare me too.
What do they want w/ things like that?
Shouldn't they ask permisson first and thier reasons?

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Just another way for the government to try and control us...

 

[MysticScorpio82]

According to the article, it is for genetic testing, required by law, done without our consent, and then they keep the DNA for research and to give out to 3rd party researchers...

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

My pediatricians office has a handout that you can sign if you do not consent to your child's DNA being put into these genetic testing programs, it is all supposed to be kept confidential, like the samples have an ID number, but no one doing the testing actually knows WHO it belongs to...

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I guess I don't really see an issue with it.

For example, what if something were to happen to your child? (God forbid.) And you could only identify by DNA? Many parents do not have their own ID kit for cases like this. I can see where the DNA sample would come in handy in that sense.

 

[Player Hater]

DNA databases are nothing new, but they are gathering DNA from a much higher percentage of the population these days. Lord knows what they are doing with it, if anything. Theoretically, they could clone you if they wanted, or frame you for a crime, heh...

 

[agnes_day]

they have been doing this for a long time..i dont think that the governent is trying to track our little ones or anything!

 

[alicefelldown]

It might be better if you put a link to the CNN article, and not a blog that mentions to go to another website only to find again, that it has been copy-pasted. You never know how people can 'edit' (and I'm not saying you did!!!) the facts on their sites and claim it is a direct copy-paste from the real article. It's a good habit to read articles at the source - people can be so deceitful on the internet

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/04/baby.dna.government/?hpt=C1

I don't have kids so maybe I don't have as much of a 'mother hen' instinct as others but the testing itself does not bother me per se so much as this bit:

Since health insurance paid for Isabel's genetic screening, her positive test for a cystic fibrosis gene is now on the record with her insurance company, and the Browns are concerned this could hurt her in the future.

"It's really a black mark against her, and there's nothing we can do to get it off there," Brown says. "And let's say in the future they can test for a gene for schizophrenia or manic-depression and your baby tests positive -- that would be on there, too."

I know health reform is a TOUCHY subject (so let's not open that can of worms) but I hope most would agree that our 'caring' insurance companies can rot at the bottom of the compost heap.​

 

[mamaKate]

Does anyone know when the routine testing started?