GENETICS -Bush proposes ban on discrimination

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[OG Note; This is all well and good, but employers and insurers will find ways to deny employment and coverage anyway. Employers particularly will find loopholes, as they frequently do now with age, gender, race and other types of discrimination.]

Saturday June 23 12:31 PM ET

Bush Proposes Ban on 'Genetic Discrimination'

By Randall Mikkelsen

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Saturday proposed forbidding employers, insurance companies and others from denying jobs or health coverage to people based on their genetic makeup.

Bush said in his weekly radio address that scientific advances making it possible to unlock a person's genetic code have also opened the door to potential discrimination against people with a genetic propensity to disease.

``Genetic discrimination is unfair to workers and their families,'' Bush said in the address. ``It is unjustified, among other reasons, because it involves little more than medical speculation.''

The address was recorded on Thursday and broadcast while Bush was taking a weekend break at his ranch in Texas.

Bush said he was working with Congress to develop legislation that would outlaw such discrimination.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat, welcomed Bush's interest in the issue, ``given the fact that the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives have failed to act on this issue for over five years.''

Slaughter has sponsored a bill that would ban discrimination in the workplace and in health insurance on the basis of genetic information. Her legislation has 250 bipartisan co-sponsors in the House, and Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle has sponsored a companion bill in the Senate.

``I hope the president will support this strong, enforceable genetic nondiscrimination bill,'' Slaughter said in a statement. ''We must pass this law as soon as possible because individuals are already suffering genetic discrimination.''

SIMILAR LEGISLATION IN TEXAS

The White House said Bush had signed legislation while he was governor of Texas to outlaw genetic discrimination in employment and group health plans.

Genetic differences have been linked to up to 4000 diseases, including cystic fibrosis, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, schizophrenia and heart disease, the White House said.

However, said Bush: ``A genetic predisposition toward cancer or heart disease does not mean the condition will develop. To deny employment or insurance to a healthy person based only on a predisposition violates our country's belief in equal treatment and individual merit.''

``Just as we have addressed discrimination based on race, gender and age, we must now prevent discrimination based on genetic information,'' he said.

Bush also used the address to make another pitch for his version of ``patients bill of rights'' protections for customers of health maintenance organizations (HMOs), as the U.S. Senate debates the issue.

Democrats won an early procedural test on Thursday on a bill which Bush has threatened to veto for failing to adequately limit lawsuits, but key Democrats on Friday signaled they could support changes in their favored bill to limit the liability faced by employers.

``The system should not favor HMOs, and it should not favor trial lawyers,'' Bush said. ``It should favor patients, with quick action to make sure they get the treatment they need.''

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2001


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