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President Bush Signs Genetic Nondiscrimination Act

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the no-paring-based-on-pairing dept.

artemis67 writes "This past week, President Bush signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which would prevent health insurers and employers from discriminating against individuals on the basis of their genetic information. GINA is the first and only federal legislation that will provide protections against discrimination based on an individual's genetic information in health insurance coverage and employment settings.'"

4 of 527 comments (clear)

  1. Woof! by Cillian · · Score: 0, Troll

    So, my dog can now apply for a job? I mean, surely, she cannot be refused the job on account of being a dog, as that would be discrimination against her because of a particular genetic attribute (I.e. being a dog). Well, I know this probably isn't how it works, but it's a nice thought.

    --
    -- All your booze are belong to us.
    1. Re:Woof! by cashman73 · · Score: 1, Troll

      Yes, I think your dog could apply for a job. After all, the American electorate didn't discriminate against someone with the same genetic makeup as a chimpanzee when electing Bush, so what's the difference? ;-)

  2. Re:And for good reasons... by gnuman99 · · Score: 0, Troll

    So we are back to the good old monarchy of health insurance?? Is it back to the "who's crotch did the doctor pull you out of" with a modern twist, eh?

    It is kind of moronic for people that preach that every individual has a right to live the same life. That abortions are immoral, yet the same type of right-wing will be pro-military and even pro genetic discrimination.

    Either allow or even force genetic selection at embryonic stage and screen out diseases there, or don't bitch about people that get screwed over by genetic diseases. Sadly, it is generally the ignorant regarding their own genetic susceptibilities to diseases that would oppose non-discrimination bills. We all know that a lot of cancers run in families,

        * breast cancer
        * colon cancer
        * stomach cancer

    so, why not require these people die so we can pay "cheaper" insurance costs, right?

    This is *exactly* why having private heath insurance for core care does NOT work. It puts capitalism back into something you can't change. It creates a cast system..

    Health based on your genes is not something you can change, much. Charging different price based on people's *behaviour* and *habits* (smoking, drinking, drug usage, etc.) is one thing. Treating someone better or worse because of their genes - welcome to Gattaca.

    How is genetic discrimination any different from discriminating on basis of just skin color? It is not.

  3. Re:First time Bush has posted something sane. by glgraca · · Score: 0, Troll

    The problem is that you can't trust alcoholics to not drink and you can't keep a smoker away from a cigarette for very long (and they smell bad). So it makes sense for an employer not to hire them. It is a public health issue, though, so we should not deny them medical assistance and we should work more on prevention (the minimum age for buying cigarettes should get progressively higher, for instance).