By Jane Zhang
Feb 15, 2007

A bill barring discrimination by employers and insurers based on genetic information is moving swiftly through Congress, drawing praise from privacy advocates and objections from business groups that the measure is too broad.

The legislation would be the first federal law prohibiting health insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based solely on genetic information. It also would forbid employers from using the information to make hiring, firing and other job-placement decisions.

The bill was approved by the House Committee on Education and Labor yesterday and is expected to pass the full House. The Senate, which previously passed the legislation twice, is expected to vote on it within two weeks, and President Bush has indicated he will sign it. The legislation has been debated for a decade but was opposed by House Republican leaders.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D., N.Y.), the bill's co-author in the House, said the legislation will "encourage Americans to seek out preventive health care and participate in clinical trials critical to finding cures for some of our most deadly genetic-based diseases."

Genetic testing has increased over the past decade, and tests for about 1,000 diseases are available clinically, according to the Genetics and Public Policy Center in Washington. These tests can help diagnose, predict diseases and guide treatment, but the lack of a federal antidiscrimination law, advocates say, has made some consumers reluctant to participate in genetic research. Many states bar discrimination based on genetic tests, but the protections vary widely.

Some business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, oppose the legislation. Michael Eastman, the group's executive director of labor policy, said the bill would encourage employees to file discrimination lawsuits. He said the bill would affect how employers collect health information in general because the line between genetic and other health information isn't always clear.

"We think it's really based on the politics of fear and anecdote and not on reality and reason," said Neil Trautwein, a vice president at the National Retail Federation.

International Business Machines Corp., which includes genetic nondiscrimination in its employment policy, supports the bill, according to testimony prepared for a recent hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee. But the company also said Congress should monitor implementation to prevent "expansive interpretations."

Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, said the legislation would encourage more people to participate in genetic testing for risks such as colon cancer. "All of us are at risk for genetic discrimination if protections are not put in place because there are no perfect human specimens," he said.