U.S. House subcommittee holds hearing on genetic nondiscrimination act

On March 8, 2007, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on H.R. 493, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007. Those who testifed before the subcommittee that day included Francis Collins, MD, Ph.D., Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Collins stated in his testimony, "If individuals continue to worry that they will be denied health insurance or refused employment because they have a predisposition to a particular disease, they may forego genetic testing that could help guide medical professionals to lessen their risk, simply because the test identifies them as having such a predisposition."

The House bill is identical to a bill (S.358) introduced in the U.S. Senate in January of 2007. In January President Bush also expressed his support for federal legislation to prevent discrimination based on genetics. Similar legislation was passed in 2005 by the Senate but never came to a vote in the House.