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最近，经美国媒体爆料，美国民众才得知，原来自己的孩子在出生之后就被政府提取了DNA样本，而且连同孩子的名字一起保存在国家实验室里。这一消息立即引起了众多家长的不满，且不说政府从未就此事告知他们，这些涉及孩子隐私的样本很可能成为保险公司拒绝他们投保的理由。
So what if I told you the government has your baby's DNA. Newborns are routinely screened for a series of genetic diseases and in some states, that DNA is stored even without your consent. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is talking about this, and the controversy it's sort of bringing about.
Right, 'cause parents don't know. I think we parents have no idea that our kids' DNA is stored in state labs, sometimes for decade, I know. I have four children and I didn't know that. I think a lot of parents know that our kids get tested for certain genetic diseases, but we don't necessarily know that that DNA is kept in the state lab with our child's name attached.
I think that's the important thing. A lot of people wonder, gosh, if my kid's DNA's there, they know if my child has some kind of terrible disease. That report could end up in the hands of an employer. That report could end up in the hands of health insurance, because health insurance paid to get the testing in the first place.
Now if you want to learn more about this, you can go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient, and you can see how long your state keeps DNA. Some states keep that DNA indefinitely, and it will be there forever.
Don't you have to ask permission, though, to do this?
That's kind of what's crazy about this is you don't have to ask permission. The state says that the diseases they are testing for are so aweful and so deadly that they are going to test it without your permission. So whether you agree with that or not, I think what's sort of shocking is that it then gets stored also without your permission. So you don't have to sign a single thing. And again your health insurance pays for this testing, so your health insurance then knows about 50 different diseases in some states, whether or not your child has these 50 different diseases, and they might say, you know what, we don't feel like insuring this child any more.
What if you just don't want it stored?
Well, in some states, you can actually go online to the State Department of Health and you can fill out a form that says please destroy my child's DNA. But in other states, there is no such form. You can try writting a letter, but I've talked to several experts on there, and they're kind of like good luck. I mean you can write the letter, but the state doesn't have to listen to you. They can just keep storing it.
All right, thanks Elizabeth.
生词汇总：
newborn: a child that has just been born 新生儿
indefinitely: for a period of time for which no definite end has been arranged 无限期地
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