Aetiology

Some interesting public health stories on MSNBC today:

In the first, they highlight discrepancies in newborn testing between states.

States have nearly doubled the number of newborns being tested for a host of rare but devastating genetic diseases -- yet where you live still determines just how protected your baby will be, the March of Dimes reports.

For almost two years, specialists have urged that every U.S. newborn be checked for 29 disorders, to detect the few thousand who will need early treatment to avoid serious, even life-threatening, problems.

The geographic disparity is gradually easing: As of June 1, a total of 31 states required testing for more than 20 of those disorders, says the new analysis. Five states -- Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia -- as well as Washington, D.C., required testing every newborn for the entire list of 29 conditions.

The good news:

That's up from 23 states the previous year, and covered 64 percent of the nation's babies, nearly double the number tested in 2005.

The bad news:

Eight states -- Arkansas, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia -- still were testing for fewer than 10 of those 29 conditions, the analysis found. Remaining states fell in the middle, although at least one, Wyoming, was scheduled to begin more comprehensive testing this month.

Pennsylvania? What's wrong with you? You're usually so forward-thinking...

I won't quote the entire article, but it includes anecdotes of what can happen when testing isn't done, and what you can do if your state is one of those toward the bottom.

A second story highlights Ben and Jerry's founders returning to social activism:

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are leading the company's "American Pie" campaign, designed to persuade consumers to demand a change in spending priorities. Their goal is to shift $13 billion that now pays to maintain thousands of nuclear bombs into pediatric health insurance, schools or other programs for kids.

"Do you really need 10,000 nuclear bombs?" Greenfield asked in a telephone interview from Washington, where he and Cohen kicked off the campaign Tuesday.

For those of you who haven't paid a lot of attention to the comings and goings of said Ben & Jerry and wonder when they ever left social activism, the article covers that angle as well.