The PPJ Gazette

Governor Pawlenty Supports Illegal Actions of MN Health Commissioner

CCHC held a press conference on December 10, 2008 challenging Governor Pawlenty to require health commissioner, Dr. Sanne Magnan, M.D., to follow the state’s genetic privacy law. WCCO-TV, KSTP-TV, and FOX-9 News gave the press conference great coverage, yet the Governor did not respond.

Instead, on January 9th, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health proposed to try again to eliminate parent consent requirements in the genetic privacy law by giving the Department access to baby DNA for at least two years. CCHC’s president, Twila Brase, was quoted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press saying, “This is the genetic profile of every child and the bloodline of every family…What they’re trying to say is, ‘For two years, it’s ours.'”

Last week, Twila Brase, president of CCHC, met TWICE with staff at the Governor’s Office. She met with the governor’s Director of Legislative and Cabinet Affairs, and his senior health care policy advisor. She made it clear that the Governor would have to publicly state that he is requiring the MN Department of Health to follow the law or we would feel free to assert three things as of January 21, 2009 (see below). No such proclamation has been made.

Thus, we regret to say, Governor Tim Pawlenty supports the following:

• Violation of state law by the Minnesota Department of Health.
• Government ownership and warehousing of newborn baby DNA.
• Forcing newborn citizens and their families to become involuntary subjects of government genetic research.

To Contact Governor Pawlenty: 651-296-3391; 800-657-3717; tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us (voice mail is best)

Time to Twitter – Get CCHC Tweets!

CCHC has set up two sites on Twitter.

One is focused on genetic privacy and DNA ownership rights; the other is focused on the advance of socialized medicine. Within a hour of creating the NoSocializedMed twitter site, it had a follower…before CCHC even announced the site. Expect tweets straight from the halls of the legislature.

For those who do not know, “tweets” can only be 140 characters long. In other words, VERY SHORT!

U.S. House Republicans used Twitter to put pressure on Democrats during their energy sit-in during the 2008 August recess.

To see CCHC tweets – not more than two a day from each site – join Twitter and sign up to FOLLOW CCHC’s tweets. You can either come daily to the Twitter site to view the tweets…or be directly alerted whenever a new tweet is issued.

CCHC Twitter Sites:

http://twitter.com/itsmydna
http://twitter.com/noSocializedMed

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