摘要：On March 11, 2009, nine families filed suit against the State of
Minnesota, arguing that the state, after collecting blood samples from
newborns for routine screening, unlawfully retained the samples in-
definitely and shared the samples with private research institutions
and hospitals — all without parental knowledge or consent.
1
A day
later, parents in Texas filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Texas, alleging similar conduct by Texas officials
and arguing that retaining and using newborn blood without parental
knowledge or consent violates the U.S. and Texas Constitutions.
2
In
both of these cases, families objected to the unconsented-to use of
human tissue for unidentified research purposes, including genetic
research. Meanwhile, on May 12, 2009, the American Civil Liberties
Union filed suit against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
(“USPTO”) and Myriad Genetics, seeking to invalidate patents Myr-
iad holds for two genes responsible for most hereditary breast and
ovarian cancers.
3
