The Jeff Farias Show

Wednesday, February 25 2009

We spoke with Anitta Satkunarajah a human rights activist in the Tamil community. She is a coordinator with Canadian HART (Humanitarian Appeal for the Relief of Tamils) We spoke about the struggle in Sri Lanka, a growing refugees crisis , and what many are calling genocide of the Tamil. Activism Contact links: http://www.haltgenocide.org and http://www.tamilidpcrisis.org There is great info on both sites mentioned above and for news from variety of sources complied on one site you can visit http://www.tamilcanadian.com/news/.

At 5 PM Twila Brase President, CCHC Citizens’ Council on Health Care supports freedom for patients and doctors, medical innovation, and the right to a confidential patient-doctor relationship CCHC releases “Newborn Rights” notification to assist parents of new babies during hospitalization Document will help parents protect their baby’s privacy rights related to newborn genetic testing, and state government storage of and research on newborn DNA Minneapolis/Saint Paul – To give parents a tangible tool to protect the privacy and civil rights of their newborn babies, Citizens’ Council on Health Care has released a “Newborn Rights” notification document for use during hospitalization. Citizens’ Council on Health Care (CCHC) also released the following statement from CCHC’s president, Twila Brase: “Many parents have told us stories of the difficulties they’ve had trying to protect their newborn babies while at the hospital. Often the hospital staff knows nothing about the options parents have under the Minnesota newborn genetic testing law. Most don’t even know about the Minnesota genetic privacy law and its written consent requirements. Some mothers and fathers have awakened to the sound of their baby crying, only to learn that the baby’s blood had already been taken without their consent. To help parents protect their children, Citizens’ Council on Health Care is today releasing a notification form for parents to use in the hospital after the delivery of their baby. This simple form can be copied and posted on the door, taped to the bassinet, or placed wherever the parents think best. It can be handed to staff and used by the parents to notify the lab technicians, nurses, and doctors that they want to be contacted before anyone takes blood from their baby’s heel. For six years, CCHC has been calling on the Minnesota Department of Health to fully inform parents of their right to protect their newborn’s genetic privacy and DNA property rights. The Department has steadfastly refused. They have also failed to follow the required informed written consent requirements of Minnesota’s genetic privacy law. Last year, they sought to exempt themselves from the law, and when they were unsuccessful, they continued to violate it. To this day, there is no consent form, and the warehousing of baby DNA continues unabated. Today, more than 815,000 children have their DNA warehoused in the Minnesota Department of Health and more than 1.5 million children have their genetic testing results in a health department database. Over 52,000 children have been the subjects of genetic research without their parent’s knowledge or consent. Until the state health department begins to respect the civil and statutory rights of babies and families, we will do all we can to help parents protect their children’s genetic privacy and DNA property rights before they are stolen by the Minnesota Department of Health.” To learn more go to www.itsmydna.org

AT 6 PM Gerald LeMelle is Executive Director of Africa Action. Prior to joining the organization in the fall of 2007, Gerald served as the Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy at Amnesty International USA. For over twelve years, Gerald was responsible for the following programs: Business and Human Rights, National Campaigns, Casework, Country Specialists, the Domestic Human Rights Program, Government Relations, International Justice and Accountability, Just Earth!, OUTfront, the Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, Refugee Program, Urgent Actions, and the Women’s Human Rights. Under his supervision the Advocacy Department produced over 1600 actions a year. Gerald has appeared numerous times on national television and radio outlets including CNN, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera, VOA, CBC, NPR and Pacifica. His commentary has been featured by newspapers across the United States, such as the New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Christian Science Monitor. Before working at Amnesty International USA, Gerald served as the Director of African Affairs with the Phelps-Stokes Fund. There, he was responsible for seven programs including the African Student Advisory Program, the African Student Aid Fund, the African University Resources Program, the African Forum Series, the African Papers Series, the International Studies Curriculum Project and the Southern African Refugee Scholarship Program.

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