Chances are that if you visit my site you have a child, if not, your preparing for one on they way (if neither of these apply you might just be a little weird). You know that after you give birth (in a hospital) your sweet precious baby that you have been carrying for 9 months is whisked away. They wash all the gunk off off, weigh them, check for any issues & also steal their DNA. Yup, you heard me right, the government has a stock pile of our kids DNA.
One of the screenings the hospital runs is called a "PKU" test. A blood sample is taken in the form of a heel stick to test for up to 54 metabolic disorders. Some of the disorders this screening tests for can be life threatening and if caught early can be treated. This all sounds good and dandy. I'm all for modern medicine if done correctly. I'm sure this test has saved babies lives. I wouldn't be writing this post if this was all there was on the subject.
It seems that this blood sample is then stored, by the US government. Now I don't recall this being told to me. Hey, maybe I might have signed something where this was written all the way on the bottom of the paper in font so small you needed 30x magnification to read while I was running on 2 hours of sleep, holding a screaming baby, with staples in my abdomen, swollen breasts & no food in my stomach since I gave birth 48 hours before. Good time for me to be signing papers. This doesn't seem to be the case though, apparently they don't even ask permission.
According to this article these samples are kept so "tests can be repeated, if necessary, and in case the DNA is ever need to help parents identify a missing or deceased child. The samples are also used for medical research." My child's DNA, the very thing that makes them who they are, that makes their hair brown, or eyes blue, or feet stink, this magic ingredient is sitting on a shelf somewhere? And the government is using it for research? Am I the only one who finds this scary?
Now how do I know that my children's DNA isn't being used somewhere in cloning experiments? Have you ever seen The Island? Could it be possible that there is an exact replica of my son or daughter running around some research lab? The subject honestly scares me and whats worse is that there really isn't anything I can do about it now. There are forms you can fill out asking that the DNA be destroyed but who's to say it really is. I think the only way to truly avoid this is to home birth. What do you think about this subject? I would love to hear some thoughts on how my readers feel - all two of you!
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