bearing one of the untreatable diseases? Studies show that the rarer the disease is and the more diseases being tested for, the more likely the tests are to produce false-positives. This is an issue because the newborn period is a crucial time for the parents to bond with the child, and it has been noted that ten percent of parents whose children were diagnosed with a false-positive still worried that their child was fragile and/or sickly even though they were not, potentially preventing the parent-child bond forming as it would have otherwise. As a result, some parents may begin to opt out of having their newborns screened. Many parents are also concerned about what happens with their infant's blood samples after screening. The samples were originally taken to test for preventable diseases, but with the advance in genomic sequencing technologies many samples are being kept for DNA identification and research, increasing the possibility that more children will be opted out of newborn screening from parents who see the kept samples as a form of research done on their child. See also prenatal testing References External links U.S. National Newborn Screening and Genetics Resource Center List of tests by US state. The History of Newborn Screening - Flash Cast by Harvey Levy, MD: In this 40-minute talk and slide presentation, offered here in ten short video sections, Dr. Levy covers the history of newborn screening, starting with the origin of the concept of errors of inborn metabolism in the early 1900s, covering Dr. Robert Guthrie's development of newborn screening for PKU, and moving through current screening methods and public health approaches. Newborn Screening Information & Resources Homepage of the Save Babies Through Screening Foundation, a grass-roots advocacy group devoted solely to expanding, and promoting awareness of, Newborn Screening. Baily, M.A. and Murray, T.H. (2009).Ethics and Newborn Genetic Screening. Johns Hopkins University Press. Waldholz, Michael, "A Drop of Blood Saves One Baby; Another Falls Ill," Wall Street Journal, 17 June 2001, p. A1 (52k PDF) Baby's First Test (Educational site produced by the non-profit organization Genetic Alliance.) Neonatology Epidemiology Rare diseases