Collection of All Newborn DNA By Federal Government Without Consent (S.1858)

A lot of people are unaware that in 2007 a bill (S.1858) was passed by Congress that requires DNA samples of all newborn children to be sent to the Federal Government, warehoused, databased and tagged to note any genetic anomalies. This law does not require notification, much less consent, from the parents.

Every newborn child is now having samples of their DNA sent to the government for screening and indexing. The title of the bill was "Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007" but probably should have been titled "Stealing Your Kid'S DNA for Databasing and Tracking Without Telling You."

Beyond establishing a list of genetic conditions for which newborns would be tested, the bill also establishes guidelines for sharing test results nationwide, creating systems for surveillance and tracking of the status of anyone diagnosed at birth with any kind of defect, tracking genetic traits and defects within families and to subject people to genetic research without getting their consent or even having to inform them. The DNA is taken and then becomes the property of the government.

Now, I know a lot of people aren't really too concerned with what powers the Federal Government has granted to it by our Constitution, but I'm pretty sure nowhere in there does it authorize the quiet theft of our genetic material for purposes of research, tracking and whatever else they decide to do with it once they have it. And, of course, they always eventually choose to expand uses of information once collected. Besides all of that, isn't it a bit creepy to suddenly become, as World Net Daily suggested in 2008, a population of "guinea pigs."

For those who have some historical perspective on the 'eugenics' movement in the early 20th Century, you will be familiar with the name Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, who advocated eugenics as a way to eliminate traits from the population that were considered 'unfit'. In fact, a large part of this movement and the advocation of abortion to be more widely accepted had outright racial motives associated with one of the project names and who knows what she meant when she criticized, "the ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born."

This massive violation of everything from privacy to medical ethics was introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd [D-CT], ultimately passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President Bush on April 24, 2008. Yeah, let me say that again and note I didn't say "vetoed". SIGNED by President Bush into law. There were 21 co-sponsors and while you might expect Hillary Clinton [D-NY], Bernie Sanders [I-VT] or Ted Kennedy [D-MA] to be among them (they were) there were a few surprises. Those included embattled Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman [R] and Senator Richard Lugar [R-IN], Orrin Hatch [R-UT] and the recent stimulus bill sellout Susan Collins [R-ME]. These Senators didn't just vote for it, they CO-SPONSORED it.

And the story gets better. This bill was passed in the Senate by "unanimous consent". In other words, no recorded vote was taken. This is what cowardly legislators do on controversial bills when they don't want a record of how they voted to be used against them later. Sure enough, the House of Representatives did the same thing.

Hey isn't this great! You don't have to be accused of a crime to get your fingerprints taken, the government will already have your DNA. Convenient. And hey, somewhere in a lab somewhere they could be doing medical research ... ON YOU.

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