Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

The United States has laws prohibiting against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, national origin and age.

But what about discriminating against you?

As the scope of protection grows the characteristics by which discrimination is possible shrinks. And right now, it ends with genetics.

Yesterday, Congress voted to approve the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, a bill that puts restrictions on how genetic testing and the influence its results can have on health insurance.

“There is nothing more personal and more deserving of protection than the genetic make-up of each and every individual in our nation,” Rep. Patrick Kennedy, one of the bills 224 co-signers, said in a statement.”

“Just as our nation does not allow discrimination based on race or disability, we must not allow discrimination based on our own genetic identity.”

The aim of this bill is to prevent health insurers from canceling, denying, refusing to renew, or changing the terms or premiums of coverage based solely on a genetic predisposition toward a specific disease.

It also will bar employers from using any available genetic information when making hiring, firing, promotion, and other employment-related decisions.

Genetic testing allows for the investigation into proteins, chromosomes and even individual genes to check for mutations or irregularities. Finding irregularities in certain spots can alert doctors to a propensity for some diseases –– such as some types of cancers or neurological disorders.

The testing, however, cannot inform a person whether or not he or she will develop a disease.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson

Comments

Howard King said:

The above article is inaccurate. In the case of Huntington's Disease the genetic test will tell with 100% accuracy whether or not the person will develop HD in their lifetime. The test also can predict the probable age range in which the individual will develop the disease. This legislation is very much needed.

Link | May 2, 2008 2:48 PM
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