The Political History of PKU: Reflections on 50 Years of Newborn Screening

Fifty years of newborn screening

“…The feasibility of conducting mass screening was clearly shown . By 1965, 32 states in America had laws about newborn screening – with 27 making screening mandatory . In Australasia, some screening for PKU started in 1964, using a urine test, initially with limited coverage.…”

“…3 By 1965, 32 states in America had laws about newborn screening -with 27 making screening mandatory. 4 In Australasia, some screening for PKU started in 1964, using a urine test, initially with limited coverage. Full coverage using dried blood spots was achieved from 1969.…”

„Enthält eine Phenylalaninquelle“

“…12 in Der eu ZugelAssene phenylAlAninhAltige süssstoffe Abb. 11 phenylAlAninArme Diät für fünfjährige [38]…”

Fifty years of phenylketonuria newborn screening — A great success for many, but what about the rest?

“…Today, PKU is considered as a paradigm for all inborn errors of metabolism (IEM), being the first IEM to be etiologically explained, the first with a successful treatment (in a form of a controlled diet introduced by Horst Bickel in 1950s), and the first to be detected by newborn screening programs [2,4,5]. Therefore, PKU is still widely considered as a triumph of science and medicine, and as an outstanding example of their enormous potential to transform the lives of people with inherited disorders by preventing their debilitating clinical consequences [6]. The prerequisite and a crucial element of its success lie in an effective newborn screening program.…”

“…By 1965, it was introduced in 32 US states and by late 1970s throughout Europe. The newborn screening for PKU was gradually implemented not just by most of the developed countries around the world but also by many of the developing countries [6,8].…”