The Conservatarian

It was with quite a bit of alarm that I read this article at inforwars.net today. I was not alarmed because of what was being done in the name of security, I was alarmed by the deafening silence of it. The government is now legally able, within six months, to get a DNA sample from every child born in the United States. Be it from a cheek swab or heel-stick blood sample, the parents will have no right or say whatsoever in the matter of submitting their children’s genetic samples to the government (at least that is how I am reading this).

Let us step back and look at the implications of this genetic data collection:

1. Unconstitutional collection of your or my child’s DNA 
2. Unwilling experimentation on my child’s DNA 
3. Insurance companies datamining to see who is or is not “insurable” based on the genetic predisposition toward certain diseases (cancer, sickle cell anemia, Tay-Sach’s, diabetes)
4. The outright lack of neccessity of such a program as this

And America is uttering not a word- no, not even a peep.

It is too late to block it by calling your senator, congressman, or the Oval Office. This act was created right under the noses of the American public. I consider myself pretty well plugged into the media, but I have not heard of the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007. Two thousand SEVEN. Last year! And it was signed on May 2nd. We have two options in my opinion: the individual states will refuse to participate (which is unlikely) or we the people can take it to court. Thus far I have read the act, and I can find of no religious or conscientious objection clause in it (if someone knows of one, please point it out to me). This is indeed a frightening thing that has come upon us. I believe Big Brother is trying to become a little god.

Entire aticle at: http://infowars.net/articles/may2008/020507DNA.htm and excerpted below:

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Bush Signs Bill To Take All Newborns’ DNA
Health Council, Congressman Ron Paul warn new law could pave the way for a national DNA database
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Friday, May 2, 2008

President Bush last week signed into law a bill which will see the federal government begin to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the U.S. within six months, a move critics have described as the first step towards the establishment of a national DNA database.
Described as a “national contingency plan” the justification for the new law S. 1858, known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is that it represents preparation for any sort of “public health emergency.”

The bill states that the federal government should “continue to carry out, coordinate, and expand research in newborn screening” and “maintain a central clearinghouse of current information on newborn screening… ensuring that the clearinghouse is available on the Internet and is updated at least quarterly”.

Sections of the bill also make it clear that DNA may be used in genetic experiments and tests.

Read the full bill here (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s110-1858).

One health care expert and prominent critic of DNA screening is Twila Brase, president of the Citizens’ Council on Health Care who has written a detailed analysis (PDF; http://www.cchconline.org/pdf/S_1858_NBS-DNAWarehouseFINAL.pdf) of the new law in which she warns that it represents the first program of populationwide genetic testing.

Brase states that S.1858 and H.R. 3825, the House version of the bill, will:

Establish a national list of genetic conditions for which newborns and children are to be tested.
Establish protocols for the linking and sharing of genetic test results nationwide.
Build surveillance systems for tracking the health status and health outcomes of individuals diagnosed at birth with a genetic defect or trait.
Use the newborn screening program as an opportunity for government agencies to identify, list, and study “secondary conditions” of individuals and their families.
Subject citizens to genetic research without their knowledge or consent.

“Soon, under this bill, the DNA of all citizens will be housed in government genomic biobanks and considered governmental property for government research,” Brase writes. “The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research.”

“The public is clueless. S. 1858 imposes a federal agenda of DNA databanking and population-wide genetic research. It does not require consent and there are no requirements to fully inform parents about the warehousing of their child’s DNA for the purpose of genetic research.”