The push for equity in CF carrier and newborn screening
October 2025—Bringing equity to cystic fibrosis carrier and newborn screening was the aim of expert groups that have released their recommendations for both. Carrier screening for 23 CFTR variants, which had been the recommended practice since 2004, was working well, “but only if a person was of white European or Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry,” said Karen Raraigh, MGC, CGC, assistant professor of genetic medicine at Johns Hopkins University. “It wasn’t working all that well because it was not an equitable test.” For people of Asian American and African American ancestry, she said, the detection rate was lower.