The US House of Representatives passed the measure (HR 493) 420 to 3, so this legislation had strong bi-partisan support. The Senate has passed this legislation in two previous Congresses, so it is expected it will pass there, when brought to a vote. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act has been chosen as a priority issue for the current Congressional leadership. President Bush has indicated that he will sign this legislation into law when it comes to his desk.
This is very good news.
From the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University, this announcement came out yesterday.
April 25, 2007
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act passes House
The House of Representatives passed the
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of
2007 on Wednesday, April 25. GINA is expected to
pass the Senate and be signed into law in the coming
months.
Despite widespread, longstanding agreement among
American citizens and politicians that protection from
genetic discrimination should be clear and consistent,
individuals' genetic information has, to this point, been
protected only by a largely untested patchwork of state
and federal regulations. Ninety-two percent of
Americans are concerned that results of a genetic test
that tells a patient whether he or she is at increased
risk for a disease like cancer could be used in ways
that are harmful to the person, and most believe that
employers and health insurers should not have
access to this information.
The threat of genetic discrimination has hindered both
genetic research and clinical practice. Linking gene
variants to health outcomes often requires studies
involving large numbers of people, but scientists
report that many potential subjects are deterred by the
fear that their information could be used against them
by employers or insurers. Thus research is impeded
that would help to bring about the much-heralded era
of personalized medicine. Meanwhile, individual
patients who could benefit from genetic testing have
sometimes foregone it out of concern over possible
repercussions. When people opt not to be tested, they
lose the opportunity to seek monitoring and preventive
care to avoid conditions for which they are at higher
risk.
The Senate unanimously passed versions of GINA in
2003 and 2005, but in both years the bill stalled in
committee in the House. President Bush has
indicated he will sign the bill into law.
More Information:
Find HR 493 (GINA)
on Thomas (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=flzxe4bab.0.rinze4bab.4nxuitbab.873&ts=S0241&p=http%3A%2F%2Fthomas.loc.gov%2F)
U.S
. Public Opinion on Uses of Genetic Information and
Genetic Discrimination (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=flzxe4bab.0.sinze4bab.4nxuitbab.873&ts=S0241&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dnapolicy.org%2Fresources%2FGINAPublic_Opinion_Genetic_Information_Discrimination.pdf)
Issue brief: The impact of genetic discrimination (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=flzxe4bab.0.tinze4bab.4nxuitbab.873&ts=S0241&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dnapolicy.org%2Fpolicy.issue.php%3Faction%3Ddetail%26issuebrief_id%3D34)
Summary of a recent hearing on GINA by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health
(http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=flzxe4bab.0.uinze4bab.4nxuitbab.873&ts=S0241&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dnapolicy.org%2Fnews.release.php%3Faction%3Ddetail%26pressrelease_id%3D73)
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Contact Information
email: gppcnews@jhu.edu
phone: (202) 663-5971
web: http://www.DNApolicy.org ( http://www.dnapolicy.org/ )
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