Monday, May 12, 2008

US Congress passes Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

On May 1, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) by a 414-1 vote.

The bill is designed to protect workers against discrimination based on genetic information. Now the bill heads to the Congress and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act was first proposed more than 13 years ago, in order pave the way for workers to take advantage of the promise of personalized medicine without fear of discrimination. At the time, fewer than 100 genetic tests existed; today, however, there are more than 1,200 genetic tests that are widely used for medical diagnoses, covering areas such as cancer, asthma, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease.

When the bill is signed into law, employers will not legally be allowed to ask employees for genetic information. It is also illegal to make employment decisions-- including hiring, firing, promotions, pay, training, status and working conditions -- based on genetic information.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act will be the first federal law to prohibit discrimination based on genetic information; some states already have similar statutes in place.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

These regulations are a good idea, but there still seems to be some holes in the new laws. For instance, health information is not the only thing you can get from your DNA:

http://dnatestingguides.com/2008/05/what-is-dna-testing/

For example with the wholesale collection of DNA the government, or any company that so wished, could compile a DNA fingerprint database or trace your ancestry.
It's not clear how the new regulations would apply to this. Perhaps the best way to stop companies/governments abusing genetic information, is to not only protect the information, but not let them have it in the first place.