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Improved Care Could Be On The Way For Babies Born Addicted To Drugs

The bill would fund a new data surveillance system.
Flickr Creative Commons
The bill would fund a new data surveillance system.

Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio’s introduced the Protecting Newborns from Opioid Abuse Act on Thursday. It would set up a new system of collecting information around mothers and babies affected by Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, and sharing it with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

There’s been a five-fold increase in these births from 2000 to 2012, with  more than 22,000 babies being born with symptoms of withdrawal.

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By Danielle Prieur