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2002 SESSION
025966544Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 32.1-65 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 32.1-65. Infants to be subjected to tests.
In order to prevent mental retardation, permanent disability or death, every infant who is born in this Commonwealth shall be subjected to a screening test for biotinidase deficiency, phenylketonuria, hypothyroidism, homocystinuria, galactosemia, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, median-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD or MCADH) deficiency, and Maple Syrup Urine Disease, and each infant determined at risk shall be subject to a screening test for sickle cell diseases. Any infant whose parent or guardian objects thereto on the grounds that such test conflicts with his religious practices or tenets shall not be required to receive a screening test. The physician, nurse or midwife in charge of the delivery of a baby or, if none, the first attending physician shall cause such test to be performed. The screening tests shall be performed by the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services or any other laboratory the Department of Health has contracted with to provide this service.
The program for screening infants for sickle cell diseases shall be conducted in addition to the programs provided for in Article 8 (§ 32.1-68 et seq.) of this chapter.
2. That the provisions of this act shall become effective on January 1, 2004.
3. That, prior to the effective date of this act, the Commissioner and Department of Health and the Director of the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services shall seek assistance from a private, nonprofit organization in the purchase of at least one tandem mass spectrometer, i.e., a technologically advanced analytic instrument that can be used to test newborns for more than 20 treatable metabolic disorders by sorting molecules in blood samples according to weight in a similar fashion to machines that sort coins.