US Government to Collect DNA of Every Newborn

reply to post by Rapacity


what concerns me is that there has been NO mention of this in the media. Although i reside out of the united states, i do keep an eye on the american channels and NOTHING was ever mentioned.

The bill basically spells out that this will "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".

It also says that this will:

Subject citizens to genetic research without their knowledge or consent.

While it is very easy to see the unethical and conspiratory side of this, you all are bypassing how great a database of DNA will be for science, technology and for the whole human race. As a molecular biologist, there are many times I wish I could take a statistic from a pool of all humans... and it would be just that easy. Step up to a website, and see for yourself.

If this is done, for the most part genetic disease would be eradicated completely.

Originally posted by retroviralsounds
While it is very easy to see the unethical and conspiratory side of this, you all are bypassing how great a database of DNA will be for science, technology and for the whole human race. As a molecular biologist, there are many times I wish I could take a statistic from a pool of all humans... and it would be just that easy. Step up to a website, and see for yourself.

If this is done, for the most part genetic disease would be eradicated completely.

Yes the conspiracy side of it can be seen easily but there are reasons for it. Isn't something of such significance supposed to be about informed consent?

Where is the Informing and where is the Consent?

.... or maybe it goes on the premise that if you live within this area, the fact that you breath the air will be taken as 'implied consent'.

I firmly believe this is just trying to look legit and formalise a programme that has already been set in place without havng parental consent. To save me posting again please read my thoughts in the thread link:

www.abovetopsecret.com...


Take care all and Merry Christmas (if you are into it)
res

reply to post by resistancia


OM F* Gosh!!!

It's happening in Australia too????????????? And there i was freaking out for the americans. we have bigger things to worry about and the sad thing is that no one knows that this is happening!

reply to post by retroviralsounds

If this is done, for the most part genetic disease would be eradicated completely.

Does this mean insurance companies will use the data base so they do not insure anyone with genetic based medical conditions? Will those with "bad genes" be "influenced" into not having children? During a medical emergency will people be denied medical help based on their DNA profile?

Government Report Answers Who Lives, Who Dies in Flu Pandemic
5/5/08
www.foxnews.com...

reply to post by 04326


Eugenics always enter through the backdoor and is hiding behind a veil of good intentions.

people can't even get money right, they built a bubble in the 1920s based on virtual money, resulting among other things, in depression, then war, only to repeat the whole thing today, just augmented by online trading. believing that buying and selling meaningless (non-)things will somehow create value is insanity, but even when the writing is on the wall and even when things tumble down like a house of cards, they won't listen or just thing for a moment. no, they just bull ahead for the next craziest thing they can find, history be damned.

likewise, Eugenic(ist)s promised the blue out of the sky and people just wanted to believe at that time, for whatever reason (see paragraphs above) and DNA sampling just gave them the excuse of the century to rejuvenate their 'lofty ideals'. nevermind that 98% of our genes are alledgedly junk, nevermind that the track record of genetic modification of crops in particular has so far yielded less than stellar if not, on the long run, catastrophic results. (visit the thread GM crops and the coming Famine for an overview of what i mean). yet, there are people who defend GM crops at any cost, who openly acknowledge their shortcomings, but feel that one should settle for the worse, just, well, just because....

rational discourse is lost on them, always has been, they are merely trying to sound sensible, as long as it helps their concealment, but when it's no longer needed expect to see a variation of holy war against us infidels. wait until pointing out the dangers of certain developments is automatically deemed paranoid and requires medication, surveillance or, in the case of Eugenics, sterilisation and, later on, death.


just look at the amount of flags this thread and mine from May have garnered so far - less than the amount of replies, that much is certain. you'd think that the prospect of genetic discrimination would have them up in arms, after all, Racism is such a constant topic around here, right? apparently, this is, by and large, a welcomed development.


PS: genetic screening has been legalized in Britain, that's exactly the scenario of the movie Gattaca. we'll see when (not if) it will get abused, and *IF* it will have real, as opposed to feigned, consequences for those actively involved, but don't complain if you ever happen to fall off the ledge of a slippery slope, because you've been warned, hundreds, no thousands of times and if your particular bet is wrong you'll spoon it out in full.

no matter how many innocent will perish along with you, you will spoon it out in full, because after WW2, the 'we didn't know' excuse won't fly anymore.

Maybe people should start using midwives and having their children at home?
My child's DNA belongs to my child and is not to be used without permission.
Especially for some nefarious agenda!
They should have No Right to do this!!!
Take the DNA and shoot 'em up with mercury and other toxins!
I'm furious over this.

Here are references on the subject of patenting of life.

Human Genome Project Information-USA
www.ornl.gov...

Patenting of human DNA and body Parts-EU
pharmalicensing.com...

Stem Cell Patents
www.cipa.org.uk...

Human-Animal Chimera Patent
muse.jhu.edu.../journals/american_journal_of_bioethics/v003/3.3resnik.html

ICELAND
Now, under the pretext of facilitating medical research, the Icelandic Parliament has privatised its country's genetic heritage. In December 1998, parliament passed a bill authorising the creation of a centralised database of non-personally-identifiable health data with the aim of improving health and health services. The database is to be set up, maintained and serviced by a licensee, which in exchange, will be granted a 12-year monopoly on its commercial explotation. Any other party wishing to use this database will only be able to do so if its research plans do not interfere with the commercial objectives of the licensee. Although the bill talks about a "licensee," there is only one candidate, the company that introduced and pushed the bill through: deCode Genetics. www.grain.org...

What is even worse is that when one of the Icelandic individuals came to this Country to be treated for cancer, the genetic data belonged to Merc and a licencing fee (20k I believe) would have to be paid to Merc before testing/treatment could begin because Merc owned that persons genetic infomation after obtaining it from the government without his knowledge. (mentioned in this show www.linktv.org...). finance.groups.yahoo.com...

...the patenting of biodiversity begins by addressing how the World Trade Organization (WTO) incorporated the first international law to require intellectual property protection for living forms (microorganisms). The goal within the WTO, dating from 2000, is to extend patent laws over all plants and animals (Article 27.3b) www.africafocus.org...

Animal Patenting
The mission of the ICAR Patenting Sentinel and Action Service (PSAS) is to: constantly update its members on patenting application legislation in the animal sector, so as to lead to a deeper knowledge of the theoretical and practical aspects of this issue; monitor specific patent applications worldwide, which are of most interest to its members; possibly take action in a rapid and effective way in relation to specific patenting applications. Animal Patents: www.icar.org...

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) by WTO (World Trade Organization) Full text or Article 27.3b on traditional knowledge, biodiversity or Progress on Article 27.3b
www.psas-web.net...

State fair market animals DNA typing will be required
www.arkansasstatefair.com...
californiafarmer.com...
www.wisconsinagconnection.com...
www.tulsastatefair.com...

The fairs and Shows use this company
IDTRAK™ is a DNA banking system designed for livestock owners. All animals have a unique genetic profile. IDTRAK™ allows livestock owners to maintain that unique genetic profile as a historic record. These records can be needed for a variety of situations where you need to trace the identity or parentage (family tree), breed or association registration, trace back due to later event (sales, siring, disease, or reproduction issues) or even to use for future genetic testing. Right now, genetic companies are working hard to discover genes that affect economic traits in livestock, such as meat quality, disease resistance, reproduction, and others.

Randy Ingram, President & CEO
Randy has held senior management roles with major agricultural life science companies for over fifteen years. These experiences include the use of DNA markers in plant genetic applications for over a decade. He was raised in central Iowa
www.wednaid.com...

List of ‘EU official’ seed varieties, no others maybe sold www.realseeds.co.uk...

Global Diversity Treaty (Theft of third world farmers seed so Monsanto and Cargill can patent and force farmers to buy seed) www.bioversityinternational.org...

In Mexico Monsanto signed an agreement to establish regional seed banks. CNC members were charged with assembling collections of native corn to be housed in Monsanto-financed repositories. (Big bucks from Cargill and Maseca-ADM have also funded the seed banks.) 55 per cent of the crops needed to feed the human race are now grown by just ten corporations. The biggest players in this monopoly game are Bayer, Dow, Dupont, Syngenta (once Novartis), and Monsanto.

Who benefits from GMO crops. a very well written treatise.
www.foe.co.uk...

Monsanto is genetically engineering seeds and enforcing its patents, Buys 'Terminator' Seeds Company,
Monsanto's Seeds of Worry www.mcgilldaily.com...

www.globalresearch.ca...

www.nwrage.org...

www.commondreams.org...

Monsanto seed police articles.mercola.com...
www.globalresearch.ca...

The gov't wants RFID for veggies, complete with a 3 phase program including premises registration with GPS and reporting.

Vegetable I.D. ? ha ha ha

That lady [Rosa deLauro (d-ct) on Lou Dobbs show touting Veggie ID] should be micro-chipped, dipped in Salmonella sauce, tarred, feathered and sent on her way.

Okay so say we get a vegetable I.D. program are tomatoes vegetables or fruit? Wild blue berries on your back 40? Sorry no permit to grow those ma'am, come with us!

Quick check the compost pile, tear out any volunteering vines that you aren’t permitted to grow! Run for your life AaGHH!!! Comment Bob Constantine at NoNAIS.org — July 28, 2008

[edit on


[edit on 23-12-2008 by crimvelvet]

reply to post by crimvelvet


very nice to see such summaries posted regularly, even though it's becoming more and more obvious that people who are willing to listen already know, while the rest will simply deny that they do.

there's little use in telling people what they don't want to hear, especially if they are just feigning ignorance.

more links, striclty for lurkers...

www.abovetopsecret.com...


btw, there's an interesting article about GM cotton killing famers, prediction from 2001, can be found at www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.rediff.com...

now fast forward to 2008:

The GM genocide: Thousands of Indian farmers are committing suicide after using genetically modified crops

now, let me give you an impression of what's going to happen: if people were more than capable of predicting this development and the detractors were not, i strongly suggest you go back to my Famine thread linked above and re-read it carefully, so you can at least mentally prepare for what's likely going to happen if this state of apathy and disinterest is maintained.


[edit on 2008.12.26 by Long Lance]

Originally posted by Long Lance
reply to post by 04326

 

Eugenics always enter through the backdoor and is hiding behind a veil of good intentions.

people can't even get money right, they built a bubble in the 1920s based on virtual money, resulting among other things, in depression, then war, only to repeat the whole thing today, just augmented by online trading. believing that buying and selling meaningless (non-)things will somehow create value is insanity, but even when the writing is on the wall and even when things tumble down like a house of cards, they won't listen or just thing for a moment. no, they just bull ahead for the next craziest thing they can find, history be damned.

likewise, Eugenic(ist)s promised the blue out of the sky and people just wanted to believe at that time, for whatever reason (see paragraphs above) and DNA sampling just gave them the excuse of the century to rejuvenate their 'lofty ideals'. nevermind that 98% of our genes are alledgedly junk, nevermind that the track record of genetic modification of crops in particular has so far yielded less than stellar if not, on the long run, catastrophic results. (visit the thread GM crops and the coming Famine for an overview of what i mean). yet, there are people who defend GM crops at any cost, who openly acknowledge their shortcomings, but feel that one should settle for the worse, just, well, just because....

rational discourse is lost on them, always has been, they are merely trying to sound sensible, as long as it helps their concealment, but when it's no longer needed expect to see a variation of holy war against us infidels. wait until pointing out the dangers of certain developments is automatically deemed paranoid and requires medication, surveillance or, in the case of Eugenics, sterilisation and, later on, death.


just look at the amount of flags this thread and mine from May have garnered so far - less than the amount of replies, that much is certain. you'd think that the prospect of genetic discrimination would have them up in arms, after all, Racism is such a constant topic around here, right? apparently, this is, by and large, a welcomed development.


PS: genetic screening has been legalized in Britain, that's exactly the scenario of the movie Gattaca. we'll see when (not if) it will get abused, and *IF* it will have real, as opposed to feigned, consequences for those actively involved, but don't complain if you ever happen to fall off the ledge of a slippery slope, because you've been warned, hundreds, no thousands of times and if your particular bet is wrong you'll spoon it out in full.

no matter how many innocent will perish along with you, you will spoon it out in full, because after WW2, the 'we didn't know' excuse won't fly anymore.

Dude, I do not know where you are getting your info from, but its completely wrong... on many levels.

Truth is 99% of crops today are genetically modified, and they work perfectly. higher yields, more fastidious plants etc. Genetics is NOT something that can really go wrong, as long as its in the hands of the right people. if you find/ know of a gene that produces higher yields, and you transform that into another plant 100% sure that plant is going to have higher yields. People today just have such a short/ non existant understanding of genetics, at a time when it is becoming common place in our world.

Everyone should have to take science from k-12

reply to post by retroviralsounds


so, iow, everyone should receive the amount of brainwash you endured? to do what, 'level the playing field'? where did you get that 99% figure from? even among soybeans, it's too high.

let me see:

www.biosafety-info.net... (.pdf)

There are only 23 countries growing GM crops in the world, covering only 2.4% of global agricultural land. Six countries account for 95% of that area – USA, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, India and China. India and China only grow a limited area of GM cotton. The ISAAA data2 for China included GM poplar trees in 2007 for the first time and some GM flowers and vegetables. No breakdown by area of either poplars or the other crops was provided. GM soya, Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soya tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate – called Roundup – makes up by far the largest areas of GM crops being grown, mainly in USA, Argentina, Brazil and Canada (51% of GM commercial planting and 64% of total soya crop). Paraguay is also significant for GM soya because 85% of arable land is under Monsanto’s GM RR soya. GM Maize is grown in USA, Argentina, South Africa and Canada (making up 31% of GM crop area and 24% of the global maize crop). GM oilseed rape is grown in the USA and Canada. There are many ways to look at the significance of GM crops to the world food supply. None of the current generation of GM crops have increased yield beyond what has been achieved using traditional plant breeding in previous decades, and increases since 1996, when GM crops were first grown commercially, can be attributed to traditional breeding improving varieties.
Of the GM crops produced, the majority of soya beans (60-90%) and a significant amount of maize
is fed to farm livestock and poultry (with a conversion rate of 5-9kg of plant protein to produce 1kg
of animal protein in intensive systems). Also importantly, some soya oil is being diverted for biodiesel,
and maize is being used for agro-fuel production in the USA.

www.centerforfoodsafety.org...

In the last decade, cotton production has declined in the majority of countries that have adopted GM cotton like Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa and Australia, and significant drops in GM cotton production are forecasted in 2006 for South Africa and Mexico.

be sure to visit Exposed: the great GM crops myth

as you can see, they are used primarly for feedstock, fuel or consumer products (like clothing). coincidence? i think not, the final push to lower quality food will require some sort of catastrophy, much like in the field of security after 2001.

as for the rest of your silly assertions, you should pull your head out, i've linked far more than enough on the topic of GMOs in this thread alone (even though OT), just follow the links before you make sweeping statements which ever so clearly indicate a typical condescending, fact-less technique of argueing which revolves around brandishing the name of science and a cryptic (to a foreigner, which i expect to be quite numerous on an internet board) classification. well i guess every high schooler should know that global warming will kill the bees and sink Manhattan by 2013, too, much like that oil is biotic, has always been and actually studying the subject will have to be done in secret....

i find the similarities to religions intriguing and encouraging. after all i think there are decent precedents on how to deal with religion, aren't there?!

enough said for now.


PS: isn't the above post a clear indication that Eugenics could be sold the same route? i think not. after all, if science class teaches it... coincidentially, that's how it happened the first time, early 20th century. besides, is citing he purpose of 'research' really enough to satisfy your curiousity? i mean DNA samples were legally taken only from criminals. until now, of course.


[edit on 2008.12.28 by Long Lance]

Hmm, there seems to be a lot of panic in this thread based on some pseudo-science and ideas hashed up from sci-fi books and movies.

The type of sample they would be getting from infants, whether blood or buccal (brushing cells off of the inside of the cheeks) wouldn't be ideal for any sort of cloning experiment, doubly so considering we have yet to even come close to cloning a human. Also, even in my lab, using some of the newest high-throughput microarray technology in the world, it can take several weeks to a couple of months to sequence a mouse genome (2.5 billion bases). The human genome is slightly about 20% larger (3 billion bases), so it would conceivably take 20% longer. You must also keep in mind that it costs us, using NIH money and with an Agilent service contract, roughly $1500 to go from sample collection to having a sequence. Do you honestly think the government is going to spend over two months and thousands of dollars on EVERY newborn?

Granted, you could make the argument that they government could use those same microarrays to detect detrimental mutations in the population at large, which they could then sell to insurance companies and other interested parties. The catch with this theory, however, is that the technology just doesn't exist yet. Microarrays are expensive and time consuming, and we don't know which genes or QTLs cause most genetic events, let alone if the event is purely genetic in nature or not (you must also consider epigenetic causes).

Basically, all this DNA collection will do is serve as a good background screen in criminal cases. The FBI is shifting from an STR to a SNP based system, which is quick, accurate, and cheap. The sites they look at do not give any indication about the person's race, health, predispositions, or anything of that nature. They are simply sites in the DNA that tend to vary in unique patterns from person to person in enough combinations so as to be a good identifier.

Even when stored at -80C or cryogenically frozen, these DNA samples won't last in cloning-grade quality for more than a decade. Unless aliens decide to drop some good, peer-reviewed papers on human cloning in our laps sometime soon, I think we're safe.

the question is how economies of scale work in the case of gene testing and whether there are other, quiecker and cheaper ways of doing it.

just an example:

research.unc.edu...

i'm not saying this will work as advertised, but i understand very well that this bill shows their interest in establishing a genetic database of the entire population. Now, of how much use would it be if it consisted of frozen tissue samples? close to zero would be correct, because even searching for criminals (and other undesireables...) won't work well unless it's digitized.

if ithe program's value was as low as you suggest, they would not even have contemplated, much less passed it.

Great!!! Maybe now they can do an alien census.

I think there are more aliens than humans. They could use it find aliens and then have them sent back to their planet like in the move "Men In Black". Only condition, they will have to use their own fuel.