This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Thursday, November 16th, 2023.    Pub Membership Plug: Public Houses, or Pubs, are not just places to drink beer, wine, cider or even something a little stronger. It is also a unique social centre, very often the focus of community life in villages, towns and cities throughout the length and breadth of the world. We here at CrossPolitic hope to emulate that for you and yours. That’s why you should grab yourself a pub membership with CrossPolitic! We have a lot of big projects we’re working on behind the scenes here at CrossPoltiic. Projects like This America, our rowdy Christian Guides, our new and improved Fight Laugh Feast App, with more to come… and we need you on this ride with us. So pull up a chair, grab a pint, and join us on this ride at fightlaughfeast.com - that’s fightlaughfeast.com.    https://ij.org/press-release/new-jersey-parents-file-federal-class-action-lawsuit-challenging-states-secret-retention-of-newborn-blood-for-23-years/   New Jersey Parents File Federal Class Action Lawsuit Challenging State’s Secret Retention of Newborn Blood for 23 Years     A group of New Jersey parents teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a federal lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s practice of keeping blood samples taken from newborn babies for 23 years, all without parents’ knowledge or consent. Not only does New Jersey hold onto the blood, it can use the blood samples in any manner it chooses.    When babies are born in New Jersey, state law requires that blood be taken from the newborns and tested for diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hormonal deficiencies, and other immunity issues. All states perform similar tests.     But, after the testing is over, New Jersey’s Department of Health keeps the leftover blood for 23 years. The state does not ask parents for their consent to keep their babies’ blood, failing to even inform parents that it will hold on to the residual blood. The only way parents could learn about such retention is by proactively looking it up on one of the third-party websites listed on the bottom of the card they’re given after the blood draw. And, once the state has the blood, it can use it however it wishes, including selling it to third parties, giving it to police without a warrant, or even selling it to the Pentagon to create a registry—as previously happened in Texas.    “Parents have a right to informed consent if the state wants to keep their children’s blood for decades and use it for purposes other than screening for diseases,” said IJ Senior Attorney Rob Frommer. “New Jersey’s policy of storing baby blood and DNA and using that genetic information however it wants is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of all New Jersey parents and their newborns.”    The plaintiffs challenging this law are two Boonton parents, Erica and Jeremiah Jedynak, and Hannah Lovaglio, a Cranbury mother of two.    “It’s not right that the state can enter an incredibly intimate moment, the tender days of childbirth, and take something from our children which is then held on to for 23 years,” said Hannah. “The lack of consent and transparency causes me to question the intent and makes me worried for my children’s future selves.”    “As a mother, I deserve the right to decide whether or not the government takes blood from my son and holds onto it for decades past its claimed use.”    Although all 50 states and the District of Columbia require blood screening for newborns, whether a state will destroy leftover newborn blood, return it, or keep it with a form of parental consent varies on a state-by-state basis.     “What makes New Jersey’s program so uniquely disturbing is the complete lack of safeguards for future abuse and the lack of consent, which leave the program ripe for abuse,” said IJ Attorney Christie Hebert. “Parents