Consent issues nix blood samples

More than 5 million blood samples used by researchers in Texas since 2002 must be destroyed because they were stored without parental consent, according to a lawsuit settlement signed by a federal court judge in Texas earlier this month (December 14). "The fact that the court case ruled to have all of them destroyed takes Texas back to square one," Richard Finnell of Texas A&M Health Science Center wrote in an email to The Scientist. "It is very disappointing." The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has been collecting blood samples from a small prick on the heel of babies since the early 1960s, and the samples at issue were collected through the program between 2002 and May of this year. The program collects about 800,000 specimens annually from about 400,000 newborns, and screens for 28 different diseases.