Tuesday, April 1, 2008

State Claims Ownership of Newborn DNA

God Bless America!
Unknown to most new parents, or those who became parents in the last ten or so years, DNA of newborns has been harvested, tested, stored and experimented with. All 50 states are now routinely providing these results to the Homeland Security Department. Excellent!

If you recall the movie Gattaca, embryos were created and screened to provide the ultimate eugenics program and the "super" human. Some refused to take part in this process and had "God" children, children who were made through normal conception. These children invariably didn't have the same superior genome compared to GMO children, and were thus forced into unwanted societal roles like cleaning and garbage disposal.


In Minnesota the state tests for 56 various genetic disorders and variants. At least 1/3 of these tests produce a false positive meaning that a flaw was identified that actually did not exist. Regardless, the false positive becomes part of the permanent record of the child and follows them for the rest of their lives as does any true positives. This means that the child may face discrimination in employment and the ability to gain health insurance at any cost.

Should we really be complaining? I mean, after all it's not required by law, you can opt out of the pogram, that is, if you knew about it in the first place.


Our legislators declared that if the parent doesn’t specifically opt out, they are presumed to have “informed consent” and have opted in.

So what are the long term implicaions of this?

The implications of the DNA database need to be viewed in conjuction with the Real ID Act in the US, and the requirement by Americans to carry around National Identity Cards. Combine the identity card with your DNA, and you've got yourself a highly controlled Statist system. I hear people saying? So, thats ok, if you're not doing anything wrong? Others look forward to a technocractic Utopia where everything you do will be based on your DNA, from your ATM card, your health insurance, driving your car, the locks on your house, all of which could be DNA specific.

It's all just a little bit Big Brother (1984) and This Perfect Day for my liking.

Read the full article by Marti Oakley

Read about RFID chips and the Real ID act here and here and here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our legislators declared that if the parent doesn’t specifically opt out, they are presumed to have “informed consent” and have opted in.

That says it all, doesn't it? Sort of like the same way that if you are born in a country you are expected to be proud of it even though you never really had a choice in the matter or did anything to achieve it.

Alex said...

I don't really see how being born into a country and pride are related to the DNA thing, but ok.

really had a choice in the matter or did anything to achieve it.

Careful with this argument. Immigrants might have chosen their new country, but they certainly didn't do anything to achieve it's success either! The ancestors are the ones who make it (good/bad), and this I believe is where peoples pride lies. I know you're a second generation, so i'm not suprised you don't feel much pride in being "Australian" as such. For myself, being connected to the first fleet, my family has a rich and long history here. That certainly helps.

Anonymous said...

I don't really see how being born into a country and pride are related to the DNA thing, but ok.

It's the same twisted logic.

Careful with this argument. Immigrants might have chosen their new country, but they certainly didn't do anything to achieve it's success either! The ancestors are the ones who make it (good/bad), and this I believe is where peoples pride lies. I know you're a second generation, so i'm not suprised you don't feel much pride in being "Australian" as such. For myself, being connected to the first fleet, my family has a rich and long history here. That certainly helps.

It's nothing to do with immigrants. It's just logical that since I really have done nothing, worked at nothing or achieved nothing and yet I'm still automatically considered a member of this 'team' from birth. I have no problem in being proud of a culture or the geographical landmass where one is a part of of lives, but being proud of ones country in the nation-state sense - because one happened to be born within its territory - seems quite ridiculous to me.

Alex said...

but being proud of ones country in the nation-state sense - because one happened to be born within its territory - seems quite ridiculous to me.

Ah, I see! Well, when you put it that way, I'm sure that there are plenty of American citizens who aren't proud of being Americans either, as well as plenty of Australian citizens!

I tell you, I'm very worried about the new trend - people proud to be corporate citizens!