From the moment the cost for universal genomic screen testing began to reduce, clinicians were eager to implement this test for all newborns. But many scientists were not on board. A research team from the Hastings Centre have raised concerns regarding genomic sequencing of all newborns. Though this test could aid in lifetime personalized care, scientists fear that this screening tool could generate results of unknown significance, which clinicians may not know how to manage. This genetic data might cause unnecessary issues which could lead to unnecessary diagnoses. Hence the scientists advise all the parents not to opt for sequencing to screen their new-borns.

Josephine Johnston, the lead author from the Hastings Centre said, “Genomics is a powerful tool, but the results it returns are still not fully understood and have not been proven to advance health outside of very specific clinical situations."

The recommendation was put forward by members of the University of California San Francisco New-born Sequencing in Genomic Medicine as well as Public Health Ethics in addition to Policy Advisory Board, including scholars and researchers from a variety of fields including bioethics, genomics and clinical medicine. It was an outcome of a four-year interdisciplinary investigation funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Josephine Johnston further added, “The recommendations embrace the use of genomics to aid in the diagnosis of sick newborns, but they draw a sharp distinction between that kind of focused clinical use and population screening."