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Landmark legislation authored by U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) that would ban genetic discrimination took a major step forward today as the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), by a 414-1 vote. GINA passed the U.S. Senate unanimously last week and now heads to the President for his expected signature. Senator Snowe’s legislation would protect individuals from discrimination by prohibiting employers and insurers from using genetic information in employment and health insurance decisions.
"The recent passage of GINA represents the culmination of an effort that began more than ten years ago to put into place landmark protections to safeguard Americans against genetic discrimination," said Senator Snowe. "Like race and gender bias, genetic discrimination is based on the unchangeable – yet it also requires a deliberate effort to obtain gene data in order to discriminate. For the first time, we are acting to prevent discrimination before it takes firm hold – so that Americans can act to improve their health without fear."
The issue of genetic discrimination was first brought to the Senator’s attention by one of her constituents, Bonnie Lee Tucker, who wrote to the Senator in 1997 expressing her fear of having the breast cancer (BRCA) gene test, even though nine women in her immediate family had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and she herself is a survivor. She was worried that the results of the BRCA test would ruin her daughter's ability to obtain insurance in the future.
"Bonnie’s story brought to light a new kind of discrimination that wouldn’t have been thought possible only ten years before," Senator Snowe noted. "The advent of new science and technology has changed the way we fight disease and as our methods change, so must our laws. The passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is a landmark moment in our ongoing effort to fight discrimination."
GINA has twice unanimously passed the Senate, 98-0 in February 2005 (S. 306), and 95-0 in October 2003 (S. 1053). The House companion bill passed in April of 2007 by a 420-3 (H.R. 493) vote. The House acted today to pass the Snowe-substitute amendment that reflects the bi-partisan House-Senate agreement to pass GINA.