PET's director Sarah Norcross had an article about genomic screening for newborns published by the Mail on Sunday.
The article details the possible health benefits of the approach, as well as practical and ethical concerns around storing this kind of data:
'If the whole genomes of newborn babies were routinely sequenced, this could detect rare diseases that would otherwise be missed early on. This in turn could improve - and even save - children's lives,' she wrote.
'Then there's what happens to the genomic data, and who has access to it. There are brilliant people working at organisations like Genomics England, UK BioBank and Our Future Health, whose job it is to make sure this sort of data stays secure and is only used in strictly regulated ways. But it's not just up to them,' she said, pointing out that a person's lifetime will usually span many different governments.
The article also references PET's report Fertility, Genomics and Embryo Research: Public Attitudes and Understanding in which 53 percent of people surveyed were supportive of whole genome sequencing at both, versus ten percent who opposed it.
