Judge's Ruling Supports Government Violation of Minnesota Genetic Privacy Law

(St. Paul/Minneapolis) - Hennepin County Judge Marilyn Brown Rosenbaum has signed an Order Granting Motion to Dismiss the 9-family Baby DNA lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Health and the State of Minnesota.

Twila Brase, president of Citizens' Council on Health Care, which has been involved in this genetic privacy issue at the Minnesota State legislature and across the nation, today released the following statement in response:

"The judge's arguments against the nine families are extremely weak. There is no law on the books in Minnesota to support the health department's current practice of indefinite storage, use and sharing of newborn DNA for research without parent consent. The law that is on the books, the Minnesota genetic privacy law, forbids it.

"We understand that the order will be appealed. The appeal is essential for the protection of individual genetic privacy, DNA property rights, human subject rights, and parent and individual consent rights. We look forward to the appeal."