identified with a genetic disorder through screening that,
without intervention, may permanently impact newborns and their
families; and
WHEREAS, Newborn screening was recently named in the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's list of Ten Great Public
Health Achievements in the 20th Century; and
WHEREAS, Newborn screening began in 1963 in the United States
with testing for phenylketonuria (PKU); and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania began newborn screening with the act of
September 9, 1965 (P.L.497, No.251), known as the Newborn Child
Testing Act, by requiring physicians, hospitals and other
institutions to administer tests or cause tests to be
administered for PKU and other metabolic diseases upon infants
in certain cases; and
WHEREAS, Since first enacted in 1965, the Newborn Child
Testing Act has been amended three times, most recently with Act
148 of 2014, which expanded the list of required diseases for
testing from 6 to 12; and
WHEREAS, In addition to the required testing, Pennsylvania
provides newborn hearing screening, testing for critical
congenital heart disease and follow-up screening and services
for all 37 currently listed newborn conditions on Pennsylvania's
two screening panels; and
WHEREAS, The Commonwealth's Newborn Screening and Follow-Up
Program is administered by the Pennsylvania Department of
Health; and
WHEREAS, "Newborn Screening Awareness Month" was started in
2000 by the Save Babies Through Screening Foundation, along with
several partner organizations, to shine a national spotlight on
newborn screening and its detectable diseases; therefore be it
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