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April 25, 2008: US Senate passes bill banning employers, insurers from discrimination based on DNA tests

By JIM ABRAMS, AP Posted: 2008-04-24 WASHINGTON (AP) - People learning through genetic testing that they might be susceptible to devastating diseases would not also have to worry about losing their jobs or their health insurance under anti-discrimination legislation the U.S. Senate passed Thursday.

The 95-0 Senate vote sends the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act back to the House of Representatives, which could approve it early next week. President George W. Bush supports the legislation.

The bill, described by Sen. Edward Kennedy as "the first major new civil rights bill of the new century," would bar health insurance companies from using genetic information to set premiums or determine enrollment eligibility. Similarly, employers could not use genetic information in hiring, firing or promotion decisions.

"For the first time we act to prevent discrimination before it has taken firm hold and that's why this legislation is unique and groundbreaking," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican who sponsored the Senate bill.

There are more than 1,100 genetic tests available today, she said, but these are "absolutely useless" if fear of discrimination discourages people from taking tests or participating in clinical trials.

Genetic testing could lead to early, lifesaving therapy for a wide range of diseases with hereditary links such as breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, heart disease and Parkinson's disease.

"But right now the ability to realize those goals is somewhat limited" because of patients' fears that the information will be used against them, said Dr. David Herrington, a professor of cardiology at Wake Forest University and spokesman on genetic issues for the American Heart Association. The legislation "will help them both be more willing to participate in research and avail themselves of the benefits of genetic testing."

Congressional efforts to set federal standards to protect people from genetic discrimination go back more than a decade, to a time when there were only a small number of genetic tests. But now, with the mapping of the human genome in 2003, people have access to far more information about their hereditary disposition to such crippling afflictions as cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease.

Bill sponsors said that has increased the likelihood that a prospective health insurance company or employer will reject a person because of concerns that person will suffer a costly disease in the future.

The Senate passed genetic nondiscrimination bills on unanimous votes in 2003 and 2005 but could not get the House to act. A year ago the House approved a White House-backed bill on a 420-3 vote.

Senate action on that legislation has been slowed by Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican who joined some business groups in warning that the bill could encourage a flood of lawsuits.

A compromise worked out earlier this week tightens language to ensure there is a "firewall" between the part dealing with health plans and the section regarding employment, so as to discourage inappropriate claims.

It also makes clear that, while individuals are protected from discrimination based on genetic predisposition, insurance companies still have the right to base coverage and pricing on the actual presence of a disease.

On the Net:
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/

January 2005

Obituary, Dr. William H. Crosby, Jr. (see text below)

June 1, 2004

June 1, 2004

Championing the Cause (GEORGE SKENE/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Home-test kit aids early detection of disease
Sandra Thomas knows that, when it comes to your health, knowledge is power. Had her mother known early about the blood disorder she inherited, it would have saved her life.

© Orlando Sentinel, June 1, 2004

November 17, 2000
Iron overload easily cured, often ignored

By Diana Louise Carter
Democrat and Chronicle

March 10, 2000
Irish descendants at higher risk for disease

By John Hejkal
Daily Nebraskan

March 15, 2000
Irish in the Blood

by Colleen Dougher
CityLink

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                                                            January 2005

Obituary - Dr. William H. Crosby Jr.

Dr. William H. Crosby Jr., a retired U.S. Army colonel and a world-renowned hematologist, died Saturday, Jan. 15, 2005, in Joplin, Mo.

Born in 1914 in Wheeling, W.Va., he was the son of W. Holmes and Frances Crosby, an architect and a schoolteacher.

Dr. Crosby was raised in Oil City and graduated from Oil City High School. He received both his A.B. and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (1940) on a full scholarship during the Depression years.

Anticipating the United States entry into World War II, Dr. Crosby served his internship in 1941 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington.

Following Pearl Harbor and leading to his overseas deployment, Dr. Crosby served in a number of administrative and training positions at Army posts around the country, including the Army's Medical Field Service School at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Dr. Crosby was then assigned as regimental surgeon of the 338th Infantry Regiment.

As a field surgeon, he soon became acquainted with the horrors of triage, when wounded GIs overwhelmed the Army doctors with their sheer numbers and often-hopeless conditions. His service in