Texas’ health department will destroy millions of controversial blood samples as part of a lawsuit settlement approved Dec. 21, 2009.

Its defendants, who include the Department of State Health Services’ David Lakey and Texas A&M Health Science Center’s Nancy Dickey, are due to surrender more than 5.3 million samples. Extracted from babies without parental consent, the samples collectively have until April 13, 2010 to be destroyed.

Texas Civil Rights Project Director Jim Harrington was “very pleased with the way it worked out.” His Austin-based nonprofit organization led parents in filing the suit in San Antonio’s federal district court.

Dickey’s office, meanwhile, was “saddened” over the loss of such a “superb database.” The samples have been stores as blood spot cards in the Texas A&M Health Science Center for the past seven years.

“This database could have continued to shed light on causes of congenital birth defects and potentially led to preventive measures saving thousands of infants and their families the distress these defects cause,” her office said in a statement.

According to defendants, the samples were identified using codes, not the babies’ names. However, the state legislature passed a law on May 27 ordering health care providers to inform caregivers and parents of any blood extractions from newborns. The law gave impetus to parental protests.

Since the signing of the law, nearly 6,900 Texans have affixed their signatures on requests to destroy the blood spot cards. The Department of State Health Services continues to get hundreds of them each week.

Under the terms of the settlement, the department must destroy samples 60 days from receipt of the request. Otherwise, the owner of the sample could request it when he or she comes of age.

In addition, the department is bound by law to reveal relevant data regarding the blood samples on its website. They must include info on any research projects the samples benefited.

More than 240,000 children have been born in Texas since the department started extracting the samples in 2002.

According to the official White House blog, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama travelled to Killeen, Texas on Veteran’s Day where they met with families of the fallen soldiers from the Fort Hood tragedy that occurred Nov. 5.

Here are some excerpts from the President’s speech.

“We come together filled with sorrow for the thirteen Americans that we have lost; with gratitude for the lives that they led; and with a determination to honor them through the work we carry on.

This is a time of war. And yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great American community. It is this fact that makes the tragedy even more painful and even more incomprehensible.

For those families who have lost a loved one, no words can fill the void that has been left. We knew these men and women as soldiers and caregivers. You knew them as mothers and fathers; sons and daughters; sisters and brothers.

But here is what you must also know: your loved ones endure through the life of our nation. Their memory will be honored in the places they lived and by the people they touched. Their life’s work is our security, and the freedom that we too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – that is their legacy.

Neither this country – nor the values that we were founded upon – could exist without men and women like these thirteen Americans. And that is why we must pay tribute to their stories.”

Photos from the event can be found here. Watch the speech here.

Vice President Joe Biden released the following statement after the Nov. 5 attack.

“Jill and I join the President and Michelle in expressing our sympathies to the families of the brave soldiers who fell today. We are all praying for those who were wounded and hoping for their full and speedy recovery. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the entire Fort Hood community as they deal with this senseless tragedy.”