As part of the settlement of a federal court action, the State of Texas has agreed to destroy more than 5 million blood samples taken from babies without parental consent and stored indefinitely for the purpose of scientific research. The Texas Department of State Health Services announced earlier this week that it would destroy the samples in connection with the settlement of a federal lawsuit filed in March 2009 by the Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of five parents of children whose blood was being held for use in research without their consent.… More