Aggregated News
This year marks the 50th anniversary of routine newborn screening in the United States. Since 1963, tens of millions of babies have had blood drawn from their heels to be tested for rare diseases.
The program has unquestionably prevented tragedies. Screening for phenylketonuria, for example, has meant that newborns affected by the condition can be placed on a special diet in the first days of life, thereby preventing mental retardation. Screening for sickle cell disease, congenital hypothyroidism and some other rare conditions has saved lives as well.
But routine screening is now being expanded in ways that demand scrutiny.
In 2005, California became an early adopter of a much broader newborn screening program. Instead of looking for just a handful of conditions, blood from infants is now analyzed for more than 50.
And advocates are pushing for even more. They envision expanding the technology to sequence every baby's genome, providing physicians with a full genetic profile to help predict disease risks, behaviors and drug tolerances.
This is not a mere pipe dream. The National Institute of Child Health and Human...
The program has unquestionably prevented tragedies. Screening for phenylketonuria, for example, has meant that newborns affected by the condition can be placed on a special diet in the first days of life, thereby preventing mental retardation. Screening for sickle cell disease, congenital hypothyroidism and some other rare conditions has saved lives as well.
But routine screening is now being expanded in ways that demand scrutiny.
In 2005, California became an early adopter of a much broader newborn screening program. Instead of looking for just a handful of conditions, blood from infants is now analyzed for more than 50.
And advocates are pushing for even more. They envision expanding the technology to sequence every baby's genome, providing physicians with a full genetic profile to help predict disease risks, behaviors and drug tolerances.
This is not a mere pipe dream. The National Institute of Child Health and Human...