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| Congress and the President to do Something Both Sane and Reasonable |
| 2007-05-07 |
| Soon it will be illegal to deny US citizens jobs or insurance simply because they have an inherited illness, or a genetic predisposition to a particular disease. On 25 April, the House of Representatives voted 420 to 3 to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The Senate is expected to endorse the act within a few weeks, which is also supported by President Bush. "I am so stunned by the majority," says Sharon Terry, president of the Genetic Alliance, a charity lobbying for the rights of people with inherited illnesses. "Clearly the House finally understood the incredible significance this has. The American public can now access genetic tests, feel safe about their genetic information not being misused and participate in research that involves genetic information." |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #6 Gattaca was a lie! |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-05-07 18:00 |
| #5 Genetic predisposition towards disease is going to be an essential part of diagnosis in the future, and not just for an individual, but for their children. To start with, when they take a DNA sample, it will be evaluated for at least a thousand known variables, and the probability that such a variable will cause a problem. For example, a given person might have an 80% chance of developing breast cancer, but "only" a 13% chance of developing each 28 other diseases, and a 5% chance of 200 diseases. In the course of their life, they would then have "windows" in which the probability of certain diseases usually crop up. Add this to the mix, and you have a much better chance of early detection. They know about what, and about when to look for it. On top of that, many such diseases have protein triggers that activate them, or leave them dormant. These can perhaps either be introduced or inhibited. Finally, there is genetic "repair", selecting a fertilized ovum out of several that does not have a particularly bad genetic problem, to be implanted, so that the bad trait is eliminated from the family line, while keeping all other traits. This is "eugenics" in its most benign form, allowing parents to choose healthy offspring over those crippled with terrible defects. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-05-07 09:42 |
| #4 Don't you see, this is a perfect way to weed out the healthy in our society, and replace them with dependent, weak, inferior humanoids. We should have told the donks that passing such a bill would assure more Bush types in the oval office in the future. I'm sure they would see the relationship and snuff the bill now. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-05-07 08:00 |
| #3 Do you really think a law will keep employers from avoiding a potential future elevated insurance cost? Smart ones won't admit that is the reason, but no company I've ever heard of wouldn't take that aspect of your employment into the mix. Companies are already uneasy about hiring someone who is overweight, much less someone that has a good chance of developing Parkinson's desease in the future. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-05-07 07:53 |
| #2 My...ahhhhhhm...son and I...ahhhhhm...thank you. |
| Posted by: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy 2007-05-07 00:52 |
| #1 Good. It would be discrimination to bar people with genetic health issues. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-05-07 00:07 |