TimeTraveler
02-25-07, 11:54 PM
What say you?
It's coming, do you all think it will be good or bad when it arrives?
Genetic privacy protected by law
A law that would protect people in the US from being denied jobs or insurance because of their genetic make-up looks set to be passed after 12 years of debate.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), introduced into Congress on 16 January, is sweeping through committees in the House of Representatives and is tipped to appear before the Senate and the full House within weeks. If passed, GINA will become the first federal law to prevent employers from collecting genetic information on their employees. It would also outlaw genetic discrimination, preventing insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on a person's predisposition to disease.
Previous attempts to introduce such a law faltered in a Republican-dominated House, but that all changed when the Democrats took charge of Congress last November. "There's a willingness to get something passed," says Karen Rothenberg at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn11244&feedId=online-news_rss20
I think there is a rush to pass laws on genetic discrimination before we even know what it is or what form it will take. Should employers have the right to scan the genes of employees?
Considering that employers already can scan all sorts of public and private records, I don't see how this so called genetic privacy law will make a difference. I don't see how any employer would not factor in genes when selecting an employer, I don't see how you can select without some sort of bias to certain genes, even if those genes represent certain talents required to do the job.
It's coming, do you all think it will be good or bad when it arrives?
Genetic privacy protected by law
A law that would protect people in the US from being denied jobs or insurance because of their genetic make-up looks set to be passed after 12 years of debate.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), introduced into Congress on 16 January, is sweeping through committees in the House of Representatives and is tipped to appear before the Senate and the full House within weeks. If passed, GINA will become the first federal law to prevent employers from collecting genetic information on their employees. It would also outlaw genetic discrimination, preventing insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on a person's predisposition to disease.
Previous attempts to introduce such a law faltered in a Republican-dominated House, but that all changed when the Democrats took charge of Congress last November. "There's a willingness to get something passed," says Karen Rothenberg at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn11244&feedId=online-news_rss20
I think there is a rush to pass laws on genetic discrimination before we even know what it is or what form it will take. Should employers have the right to scan the genes of employees?
Considering that employers already can scan all sorts of public and private records, I don't see how this so called genetic privacy law will make a difference. I don't see how any employer would not factor in genes when selecting an employer, I don't see how you can select without some sort of bias to certain genes, even if those genes represent certain talents required to do the job.