Senate passes genetic discrimination ban

A bill seeking to outlaw discrimination based on genetic test results won overwhelming approval from the Senate Thursday, clearing the way for the measure to become law more than a decade after its introduction.

{mosads}The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act would forbid insurance companies from denying coverage to workers due to a person’s genetic makeup. It would also prohibit insurers and employers from forcing employees to undergo genetic tests.

The bill passed the Senate 95-0. The House is expected to pass it next week and the White House has said the president will sign the measure.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the bill’s sponsor, said she introduced the legislation a decade ago after hearing from a constituent who feared being tested for breast cancer. The woman told Snowe that she worried the test results could show her family’s history of breast cancer and cause insurance companies to deny coverage to her daughter.

“Up until now, our laws have not kept pace with emerging technology, and doubts about the misuse of genetic information are preventing Americans from participating in tests that could improve their long-term health,” Snowe said in a statement. “What good are genetic breakthroughs if their benefits are not realized by those they would benefit?”

Though the bill was passed in the Senate twice and in the House once over the past five years, both chambers had failed to pass it in the same year. When it won House approval last year, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) placed a hold on it due to concerns that the bill could constrain businesses, according to the bill’s backers.

Senators speaking on behalf of the measure on Thursday likened it to legislation aimed at ending gender and race discrimination.

“It’s the first civil rights bill of the new century of life sciences,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on the Senate floor.