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Big Brother opens door for GINA genetic testing bill

  2. Pwdrskir
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Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 is expected to be signed into law by President Bush soon.

GINA will amend laws to prohibit a group health plan from adjusting premium or contribution amounts for a group on the basis of genetic information.

Reluctance to get genetic tests range from being fired, priced out of health insurance or dropped from coverage altogether.

Having been used to diagnose fetal problems for inherited diseases, the scope of testing has expanded in the last decade.

There are now about 1,500 genetic tests.

Washington’s Public Citizen group stated that some people have been misled by inaccurate results, and industry oversight is scant and superficial. As the new law takes effect, testing of the genetic tests also needs to be a priority.

My question: How will Big Brother safeguard the DNA tests?

Pwdrskir

15 responses // Big Brother opens door for GINA genetic testing bill

  • It's all scary to me. I don't trust the government or big business.
    Marilynn_Murray
  • Damn. Genetic Profiling means execution before trial, just like video killed the radio star. I might as well wear gloves and a mask like Michael Jackson, if we're going to live in a sterile future.
    damush
  • Another misleading and obfiscating acronym and title. If George Bush is for it, then I say no. They listen in on our phones, watch us with cameras, record our digital data god knows how, and now they want our genetic DNA on record??? It's madness and fascism. I just don't like the idea where the article states that employers won't be able to discriminate--- which implies that they will have access to the information----Why the hell should they have access to my dna???Please make it stop. I don't want to go get tested, I said no no no

    Also, you have to wonder that that website is from the wall street journal i think it states at the top of the page so the rich will profit from it more than anyone else. The post on that website by bodi5 really hits the nail on the head for me.
    menmykoko
  • http://cdn.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/4/...
    Image...
    Taking proactive measures against genetic discrimination is a good thing. I know it seems that Dubyah hasn't made a good decision...ever, but this seems like a step in the right direction in unmapped territory.
    mako2424
  • I say this is a good bill to be passed in the long run for medical reasons such as cancer or any other diseases of the sort. as long as our information is disclosed to employers and colleges cant use the information against people applying then i say this is a good bill. Then again, inaccurate tests could lead to major problems.
    tasidude
  • While genetic tests are a disturbing trend that will only increase in the coming years, I agree that this is a step in the right direction.

    Creating anti-discrimination legislation is a move that will hopefully protect people from genetyping.
    Silkwerm
  • This is scary to an extent, but if in a way that it lowers crime, then im willing to sacrifice.
    dmass5
  • If y'all haven't already seen it I highly recommend the film Gattaca with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. It shows where genetic testing can take us in the future if we aren't careful...
    alicynx
  • Scary
    Ro_Lew
  • Point blank, there are no safeguards to prevent the government from “wiretapping” your genetic tests any more than your phone calls.

    Thanks Patriot Act, you make me feel protected…
    Pwdrskir
  • Any personal DNA should be as completely private as your privates.

    yeah who are we kidding to call it an "increasing trend"? It's simply the nature of those fascist godless mferz in government doing the bidding of every big money interest they can prostitute themselves (and us ) for whatever relatively short term gain they experience.

    basically, they're tightening their grip on your balls people, and they're attempting it with a smile and the promise to be "gentle." Don't be phukn stupid. Tell your rep's they have no phukn business "protecting" (meaning: cataloguing) your DNA. Phukem.
    echoz
  • Did any of you people read the article (aside from mako)?!? This is wonderful news for everyone living in the US at this point. What it means is that for the first time in history the U.S. Government has passed a PROACTIVE law AGAINST DISCRIMINATION!!! Genetic testing is great news for people with family history of cancer, heart disease, and a host of others. It means that the day they are born they can be put on special diets, be given meds, and other treatments that can prevent or at least minimize the effects of these terrible diseases. And now as an added bonus from Uncle Sam (finally he did something right in my lifetime) you can't be fired, turned down from insurance, a drivers license, etc. etc. because of the results of these tests.

    Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!!
    M_Pavlov
  • Don't be too hasty in your celebration M_Pavlov:

    "While GINA is a positive step for consumers, it doesn't resolve every concern about medical privacy, Gruber said. "It's our hope that this bill is the beginning of a move by Congress to start to address these issues more generally."

    The bill also doesn't protect against genetic discrimination in life and disability insurance....

    Remaining challenges

    As the new law takes effect and consumers become more receptive, testing of the genetic tests also needs to be a priority, said Dr. Peter Lurie, deputy director of the health research group at Public Citizen in Washington.

    Some people have been misled by inaccurate results, and industry oversight is scant and superficial, he said. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services hasn't required proficiency testing and the Food and Drug Administration has regulated only a small fraction of genetic tests.

    "The stakes are very high in many of these cases," Lurie said. "We're talking about fetuses that might be aborted; we're talking about cancer therapy that might or might not be instituted."

    What's more, even accurate test results don't always fall into the hands of health-care providers who understand their implications, he said. "Some of these are being ordered by doctors who themselves don't know how to interpret the data."
    echoz
  • I do agree with you echoz. But the fact that the U.S. gov could move forward on genetic testing that, in my mind is something that has the potential of affecting every single citizen in the country, and to do it in a proactive, reasonable way? Well it just blows my mind to the point of getting all happy and optimistacal about the gov.

    But again you're right now the FDA needs to step up and R&D funding needs to be poured into insuring these tests are accurate and safe.
    M_Pavlov
  • And I agree with you too. It's just so many things start out with the best of intentions only to get hi-jacked midway and twisted against the expectations most people would think completely forthcoming and entirely logical. Yet it's a known fact the FDA itself is even infiltrated with special interests too. Special interests imperviously make their strategic plants and bide their time to do what *they* want (often at an obvious conflict of interest)! Like Monsanto. (WTF does any corporation have patenting living creatures which they've never and never will ever be able to create in any laboratory?! To phuk with people that's why. buncha phukn creeps out there who'd like to have the entire world on its knees! I say it again--phukem!) That's not pessimism or paranoia, either although they'll give us every assurance for that very optimism that we'd all love to enjoy, just to lull any wary trust/doubt into enough complacency or dependency to do what they're hidden agendas call for. VoyagerFilms called them criminal types in some other thread. I think I'd agree with him!!! Sadly, the character of these people I'd bet wouldn't even match your venerable own, Pavlov. Some people hiding behind fascist corporatocrisy aren't just assholes...they're greedy selfish and psychopathic mferz and need to be put down in an ugly way.
    echoz

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