Newborn Dried Blood Spot Screening (NBS) Essay -- Newborn screening p

Introduction Newborn Dried Blood Spot Screening (NBS) is the most widespread application of screening technology to identify infants with certain genetic, metabolic, and endocrine disorders. Several drops of blood are taken from the baby’s heel and placed on a ï ¬ lter paper card. Many countries are considering the expansion of their new- born bloodspot screening programs. As a public health intervention, NBS has greatly improved the lives of thousands of affected children. Yet despite the fact that newborn screening has saved the lives of thousands of children and help many more from lasting disability, previous experience has shown that screening can be costly and cause a-dverse psychological effects, such as anxiety, stress, guilt, social stigma, reduced self-esteem, and social, insurance and employment discrimination. Specifically concerning children, a request for screening creates legal concerns and raises ethical questions for the health care provider. In this review, we highligh t the major ethical and social challenges currently facing each facet of newborn screening. Background : Newborn screening (NBS) tests have been designed to identify infants with severe disorders that are relatively prevalent and treatable (or controllable) and it consists of taking a few drops of blood from a baby’s heel in the first week of life and testing it for a list of disorders. Newborn screening began In the United States and most countries in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s after Dr. Robert Guthrie developed a simple blood test for phenylketonuria (PKU) ( Baily & H. Murray, 2008). PKU leads to mental retardation, but can be effectively treated by early detection and continued adherence to a special diet. Until the late 1990s, screeni... ...creening for early detection of disease, the need for evidence. Clin Chim Acta. 315, 5-15 Miller. F, Robert. J, Z. Hayeems. R (2009), Genetic& ethics, Questioning the Consensus: Managing Carrier Status Results Generated Newborn Screening, American Journal of Public Health, 99,210-215 Rothwell. E, A. Anderson. R, J. Burbank. M, J. Goldenberg. A, Lewis. M, Stark. A, Wong. B, R. Botkin. B (2011). Concerns of Newborn Blood Screening Advisory Committee Members Regarding Storage and Use of Residual Newborn Screening Blood Spots, American Journal of Public Health, 101, 2111-2116 Tarini. B, Goldenberg.A (2014), Ethical Issues with Newborn Screening in the Genomics Era. Ethics of Newborn Screening, 1 , 381-393. Vanderburg. S, Verwei.M (2012), Maintaining Trust in Newborn Screening : Compliance and Informed Consent in the Netherlands, Hastings Center Report, 41-47.