Missed cases or unreported signals? Genomic newborn screening and the architecture of what counts

Newson and colleagues helpfully move the debate about “missed cases” in genomic newborn screening (gNBS) from the genome itself to a feature of the screening programme [ 1 ]. On their account, a missed case is not simply a condition waiting passively in the data, but something produced by decisions about programme scope and the limits of what a population screening programme is justified in looking for. This helps shift discussion away from the idea that genomic technology can or should detect everything, and towards the more realistic question of how screening programmes define, communicate, and govern their remit.