Senate Passes Ban on Genetic Discrimination
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — Up to now, people with family histories of breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, or some other fearful disease have faced an awful dilemma: Genetic tests that might relieve their anxiety or steer them to preventive therapy might also cost them their jobs or health insurance.
Some of that extra concern about testing could end soon as Congress nears completion of a bill banning discrimination based on genetic information.
A 95-0 vote in the Senate yesterday sent the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act back to the House, which could approve it early next week. President Bush supports the legislation.
The bill, described by Senator Kennedy as “the first major new civil rights bill of the new century,” would bar health insurance companies from using genetic information to set premiums or determine enrollment eligibility. Similarly, employers could not use the information in hiring, firing or promotion decisions.
“For the first time we act to prevent discrimination before it has taken firm hold, and that’s why this legislation is unique and groundbreaking,” Senator Snowe, a Maine Republican, who sponsored the Senate bill with Mr. Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Senator Enzi, a Republican from Wyoming.
There are more than 1,100 genetic tests available yesterday, she said, but these are “absolutely useless” if fear of discrimination discourages people from taking tests or participating in clinical trials.
Genetic testing could lead to early therapy for a wide range of diseases with hereditary links such as breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and Parkinson’s.
“But right now the ability to realize those goals is somewhat limited” because of patients’ fears that the information will be used against them, a professor of cardiology at Wake Forest University and spokesman on genetic issues for the American Heart Association, Dr. David Herrington, said. The legislation “will help them both be more willing to participate in research and avail themselves of the benefits of genetic testing.”
