Oklahoma Not Testing Newborns For Enough Rare Disorders

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A report by the March of Dimes says Oklahoma is one of eight states that lags behind in testing newborns for potentially devastating genetic diseases.<br/><br/>The report notes that

Tuesday, July 11th 2006, 6:13 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A report by the March of Dimes says Oklahoma is one of eight states that lags behind in testing newborns for potentially devastating genetic diseases.

The report notes that states have nearly doubled the number of newborns being tested for a host of rare diseases, yet where you live still determines just how protected your baby will be.

For almost two years, specialists have urged that every US newborn be checked for 29 disorders, to detect the few thousand who will need early treatment to avoid serious, even life-threatening, problems.

As of June 1st, eight states -- Arkansas, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia -- still were testing for fewer than 10 of those 29 conditions.

31 states required testing for more than 20 of those disorders and five states required testing every newborn for the entire list of 29 conditions.

That's up from 23 states the previous year, and covered 64 percent of the nation's babies.