President Bush last week signed into law a bill which will see the federal government begin to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the U.S. within six months, a move critics have described as the first step towards the establishment of a national DNA database.

Described as a "national contingency plan" the justification for the new law S. 1858, known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is that it represents preparation for any sort of "public health emergency."

The bill states that the federal government should "continue to carry out, coordinate, and expand research in newborn screening" and "maintain a central clearinghouse of current information on newborn screening... ensuring that the clearinghouse is available on the Internet and is updated at least quarterly".

Sections of the bill also make it clear that DNA may be used in genetic experiments and tests.

Read the full bill here.

Privacy's been dead for years anyway.

Can someone give a brief rundown of the negative consequences that will come about from this?

I'm not sure there really are any...

They'd be able to absolutely identify PETA supporters, so they could shut them down, as desired by the freedom crushers in the other thread...

I concur. I mean....so what? Piracy gets invaded. We don't have absolute piracy in this country. Deal with it or get out. Simple as that.

That's a real terrible political philosophy to have, especially in a country that was founded on a person's right to determine how they should be ruled.

I think Magnus and Munk-E must be joking - - no one can be that nonchalant about surrendering the hard one freedoms of their forefathers, can they?

Munk is a Bush supporter, which means that there is no executive power too great, whether it's wire-tapping your phone without court oversight or torturing American citizens. They do not believe in freedom or privacy, just Republican rule.

Unless of course, Obama is in charge. Then they go back to screaming about the intrusion of "big government!" But Republicans no longer have a leg to stand on (not that they ever did) about government power, not after they've whole-heartedly supported the abuses by the current president.

Uhmm Munk-E is an Obama supporter