CCHF to Parents: Ask for Newborn Screening DNA Opt-Out Form at Minnesota State Fair

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The Minnesota State Fair, one of the largest in the country, kicks off today. But beyond the famous food-on-a-stick and other fair staples, organizations from around the state see the fair as an opportunity to introduce themselves to the throngs of visitors who will attend the fair through Labor Day.

Among them is the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), which will host a booth in the Education Building at the fair, just north of Dan Patch Avenue on Cosgrove Street. MDH representatives will share information about various programs, such as the department’s Newborn Screening Program. As part of that program, the department will also sponsor a #MadeinMinnesota photo contest in the Health Fair 11 Building in the East Crossroads auditorium at the intersection of Dan Patch and Cooper.

Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, http://www.cchfreedom.org), says the fair is the perfect opportunity for new or potential parents to request the official state “opt-out” form that would prevent the Minnesota Department of Health from keeping their children’s DNA and newborn genetic screening test results in the government storage system and research program. If forms are not available at the fair that day, Brase suggests, parents should ask if they can obtain one on another day or request that one be mailed to them.

CCHF has been instrumental in educating Minnesotans and citizens around the country about the unethical government storage and use of newborn DNA through blood spots and state newborn screening tests, often without the consent of parents.

“After the 2011 Minnesota Supreme Court required them to destroy confidential and sensitive information on more than one million babies kept since the mid-1990s in 2014, the Department began to store newborn DNA again on August 1, 2014, just over a year ago,” Brase said. “Therefore, every baby’s DNA, unless the parents sign and send in an opt-out form, is on file with the state, perhaps for research, future genetic sequencing or other purposes. This is why it’s so important for parents to be educated about what happens to their baby’s DNA containing the child’s genetic blueprint after newborn screening tests are conducted. Without parental intervention, the baby’s DNA and genetic information could be stored by the state for decades.”

Brase said that before a baby’s photo is taken as part of the contest, parents should make sure that their baby’s genetic privacy is protected.

CCHF is a national organization dedicated to preserving patient-centered health care and protecting patient and privacy rights, and seeks to keep all Americans informed about pressing health care issues and how they will affect their care, their privacy and their wallets.

For more information about CCHF and its “5C” Solution for Health Care, visit its web site at http://www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/cchfreedom or its Twitter feed, @CCHFreedom.

Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, a patient-centered national health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn., exists to protect health care choices and patient privacy. CCHF sponsors the daily, 60-second radio feature, Health Freedom Minute, which airs on approximately 350 stations nationwide, including 200 on the American Family Radio Network and 100 on the Bott Radio Network. Listeners can learn more about the agenda behind health care initiatives and steps they can take to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy.

CCHF president and co-founder Twila Brase, R.N., has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” A public health nurse, Brase has been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, Minnesota Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, NPR, New York Public Radio, the Associated Press, Modern Healthcare, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, among others. She is at the forefront of informing the public of crucial health issues, such as intrusive wellness and prevention initiatives in Obamacare, patient privacy, informed consent, the dangers of “evidence-based medicine” and the implications of state and federal health care reform.