WASHINGTON — Saying new protections were needed against the dark side of the genetic revolution, the Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved legislation to prohibit companies from using genetic tests to make employment decisions, deny health coverage or raise insurance premiums.
The vote was 95 to 0. The measure now goes to the House, where sponsors of a similar proposal claim support from 221 of the 435 members. The Bush administration issued a statement Tuesday backing the Senate measure.
Doctors, scientists and patient groups long have said that anti-discrimination laws were needed to protect people from misuse of information gathered through some of the most important breakthroughs in genetic research.
By studying the DNA in a patient's cells, for example, doctors are able to diagnose certain diseases and determine a person's vulnerability to other illnesses, among them Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and some forms of breast and ovarian cancer.
But people have been hesitant to have such tests done, doctors and patient groups say, even when the information can help them take steps to prevent illness. Patients fear that if genetic tests show even a predisposition to a disease that may be costly to treat, employers and health insurers will penalize them.
The Senate first began considering bills banning genetic discrimination in 1997, but none had passed.
"It's a big day here," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the genome institute at the National Institutes of Health. "For those of us who have been working on this for more than 10 years, this is huge."
Collins said that fears of discrimination already had deterred potential participants of genetic research projects. In two studies of breast cancer and one of colon cancer, one-third of the individuals who were qualified to participate ultimately declined after hearing that there was no federal law against such discrimination, he said.
Lawmakers made similar points Tuesday.
"It's great medical news that we've moved this far ... but one of the other sides of the coin is that this information could be used arbitrarily, unsuspectingly or even intentionally to harm your employment or ability to get health insurance," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
