Keeping Pace with the Times — The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 358; no. 25; pp. 2661 - 2663
• Main Authors: Hudson, Kathy L, Holohan, M.K, Collins, Francis S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Massachusetts Medical Society 19-06-2008
• Subjects: Consumer protection; Discrimination; Eligibility Determination - legislation & jurisprudence; Employment - legislation & jurisprudence; Federal legislation; Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act 2008-US; Genetic Privacy - legislation & jurisprudence; Genome, Human; Health care policy; Humans; Insurance, Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Prejudice; United States; United States
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp0803964

On May 21, President George Bush signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). Kathy Hudson, M.K. Holohan, and Dr. Francis Collins write that at last, the United States has a federal law that protects consumers from discrimination by health insurers and employers on the basis of genetic information. Dr. Francis Collins discusses the provisions of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and its likely effects on patient care and clinical research. Dr. Collins is director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.
Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.
— Thomas Jefferson, July 12, 1810
When the first federal legislation to prevent the misuse of genetic information was introduced in 1995, many in the health care, research, and policy communities considered the measure to be forward looking. Others called it premature. After all, scientists were just getting ready to . . .