It has been nearly six decades since Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA and more than ten years since the human genome was decoded. Today, by collecting and analyzing a small blood sample, every child born in the United States is screened for more than fifty genetic disorders.

Although early detection of these abnormalities can save lives, the test also contains a high percentage of false positives - inaccurate results that can affect parents emotionally before they are corrected. Now some doctors wonder whether the benefits of these offers outweigh the stress and pain they sometimes produce.

In "Save the Children?" Stephan Timmermans and Mara Buchbinder assess the consequences and benefits of state-mandated neonatal screening - and the greater political issues they pose about the inherent disparities in US medical care that limit the effectiveness of this technology that could save lives. Drawing on observations and interviews with families, doctors and policy representatives, Timmermans and Buchbinder presented the first ethnographic study on how parents and genetics resolved many of the uncertainties in neonatal screening. This book is ideal for medical, public health and public policy researchers and has become a classic in this field..