Bush signs bill banning job, health-insurance bias linked to genes

22 May, 2008

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Wednesday signed legislation to protect people from losing their jobs or health insurance when genetic testing reveals they are susceptible to costly diseases.

Broadly embraced in Congress, the anti-discrimination measure aims to ensure that advances in DNA testing won't end up being used against people.

The new law forbids employers and insurance companies from denying employment, promotions or health coverage to people when genetic tests show they have a predisposition to cancer, heart disease or other ailments.

"It protects our citizens from having our genetic information misused," the president said.

Sponsors of the legislation call it a groundbreaking protection of civil rights. About a dozen of them gathered in the Oval Office as Bush signed the bill but not Sen. Edward Kennedy, to whom the president paid particular tribute. Kennedy, who learned this week he has a malignant brain tumor, has called the genetic anti-discrimination bill "the first major new civil rights bill of the new century."

People today have far more information about their hereditary disposition to crippling afflictions. Bill sponsors said that has increased the likelihood that insurers or employers might deny people work or insurance to avoid costly risks.

Source : http://deseretnews.com