[Neonatal screening: trends, debates and consensus]

This study focuses on the social and political implications of the substantial expansion of genetic tests and neonatal screening. The introduction of neonatal screening for cystic fibrosis is one of the significant developments that have fuelled debate on their appropriateness. It has raised a series of questions on the pros and cons, the role of evidence in biomedicine, and the articulation between the therapeutic approach and foetal selection. In this respect France provides an ideal research field as it was one of the first countries to generalize this screening, launched in January 2002. Several questions arise: What were the terms of the debate in France and their underlying logics? How was consensus reached? More generally, what does this screening tell us about policies on life forms today?