U.S. House backs bill barring genetic discrimination

U.S. House backs bill barring genetic discrimination

By Will Dunham Wed Apr 25, 5:08 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill that would prohibit genetic discrimination against people, for instance not hiring or insuring someone predisposed to a given illness, won overwhelming approval in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.
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The measure, approved by a vote of 420 to 3, now goes to the Senate. The White House said it supports the bill, which is opposed by the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a leading business lobby.

The bill was first introduced in Congress 12 years ago. It was approved twice in the Senate by unanimous votes, the last time in 2005, but had never previously cleared the House.

It would ban group health plans and health insurers from denying coverage to a healthy person or charging higher premiums based solely on a genetic predisposition to a disease. It also would prohibit employers from using genetic information in hiring, firing, job placement or promotion decisions.

New York Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter, who sponsored the bill with Illinois Republican Rep. Judy Biggert (news, bio, voting record), said it will eliminate a new form of discrimination and remove people's reluctance to take part in genetic research and testing.

Scientists are learning more and more about the genetic underpinnings of a variety of illnesses such as breast cancer and heart disease, and tests are being developed to determine a person's predisposition to various ailments.

Supporters of the bill worry that results of genetic tests could be used against people by employers or insurers loath to assume the financial burden of treating costly illnesses.

They also argued that without such legislation, people might be reluctant to get genetic testing that could be extremely beneficial -- for example in allowing them to get early treatment for a disease -- out of fear the results could harm them in hiring, promotion or insurance decisions.

'WE ARE ALL VULNERABLE'

"There is not a single person on this planet that carries with them perfect genes -- every one of us carries a predisposition to illnesses -- and therefore we are all vulnerable to genetic discrimination," Slaughter said during House debate.

While the bill has attracted the support of some businesses such as IBM and influential conservative former House speaker Newt Gingrich, the Chamber of Commerce is fighting it.

"Employers aren't discriminating based on genetic information. And it's not something that we believe they will want to do," Michael Eastman, the chamber's executive director of labor policy, said in a telephone interview.

Eastman said the bill would impose a new layer of medical privacy regulations inconsistent with existing law, would permit states to set their own perhaps different rules and would allow for excessive lawsuit damages.

The White House issued a statement supporting passage of the bill.

"The administration wants to work with Congress to further perfect this legislation and to make genetic discrimination illegal and provide individuals with fair, reasonable protections against improper use of their genetic information," the White House said.

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