Newborn Blood Samples Stored at A&M Ordered Destroyed

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Updated: 4:33 PM Dec 22, 2009 Newborn Blood Samples Stored at A&M Ordered Destroyed AUSTIN (December 22, 2009)--A federal court in San Antonio has ordered Texas health officials to destroy as many as four million blood samples that were taken from newborn babies without parental consent and then stored indefinitely for scientific research. Posted: 4:33 PM Dec 22, 2009 Reporter: AP

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AUSTIN (December 22, 2009)--A federal court in San Antonio has ordered Texas health officials to destroy as many as four million blood samples that were taken from newborn babies without parental consent and then stored indefinitely for scientific research.

The Texas Civil Rights Project Tuesday announced the settlement in a suit it filed on behalf of five plaintiffs against the Texas Department of State Health Services and Texas A&M University.

The lawsuit alleged that the state's failure to ask parents for permission to store and possibly use the blood violated constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure.

The federal court ordered any blood samples collected without parental consent to be destroyed by early next year.

The plaintiffs said there are at least four million such samples.

For 44 years, a state-mandated newborn screening program required hospitals to draw blood from the heels of newborns to test for 27 genetic defects and diseases.

For the last seven years, those samples have been sent to Texas A&M University for storage and for research at other facilities, which required approval from DSHS and its Institutional Review Board.

By law hospitals, birthing centers and midwives were able to take the blood without consent.

The stored samples were identified only by number.

Latest Comments

Posted by: dot Location: bryan on Dec 24, 2009 at 03:16 PM

A&M CAN KEEP MY NEWBORN BLOOD FOR RESEARCH. I BELIEVE THIS IS A GOOD THING. IT MIGHT EVEN SAVE HIS LIFE OR SOMEONE ELSE SOME DAY. AT THE HOSPITAL WERE I WORK. WE HAVE THE MOMS SIGN A PERMIT TO GET RID OF THE AFTER BIRTH STUFF. I BELIEVE IF WE DIDN'T HAVE THIS. THEY WOULD HAVE TO TAKE THAT STUFF HOME. WHAT A MESS IT WOULD BE. THIS WAY IT CAN BE USE FOR RESEARCH TO HELP UP ALL.

Posted by: Anonymous Location: CS on Dec 23, 2009 at 12:09 PM

They were allowed to draw blood without consent in order to do the important genetic screening. Drawing additional blood without informed consent or even telling the parents about it was an abuse of that trust. The Institutional Review Board should have shot that down in a heartbeat; informed consent is all over the standard requirements for testing. This isn't some great loss; it's stuff they should never have had in the first place. They basically said they need a certain amount of blood to do their tests and apparently took more than that and who knows what they've done with it. Whatever's left will be tossed; no telling what's already been done.

Posted by: Roger Location: Texas on Dec 23, 2009 at 09:52 AM

Can they still get stem cells for research from the babies blood that late in life? Is any of the blood being used for stem cell research? How many babies blood samples have been matched with adult blood samples to see what the outcome of those genes were in the adult? What difference does a sample only being identified by a number make when you can do a DNA test and match cells with an adult? If you can search for DNA in crime scene samples against DNA held on known prisoners certainly you can do it on anyone elses biologicals.

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