Health Minister Tony Ryall has announced new protections for heel-prick blood tests taken from newborns. The Dominion Post reports that Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff has voiced her concerns over the security of this data, calling it the "ultimate identifier" and highlighting the dangers of misuse. Ryall announced that, while heel-prick cards will be kept indefinitely, individual written consent will be needed to use samples taken prior to June of this year in research, and since June, parents have been informed of possible uses prior to agreeing to long-term storage of blood samples. Ryall also said the Privacy Commission is considering plans for regulating the use of the data.
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