Status of Federal Legislation
Against Genetic Discrimination
The US Senate unanimously passed a bill making genetic discrimination illegal. The bill awaits action in the US House of Representatives.
Many states have enacted some form of nondiscrimination legislation with regard to a person's genetic profile, but the laws are quite varied in their focus and scope (for a listing of discrimination legislation regarding genetic profiling by state, visit the National Human Genome Research Institute Web site at www.genome.gov). Federal legislation would assure individuals and families that neither healthcare coverage nor employment status could be jeopardized by participation in either research or clinical genetic testing.
