The House Education and Labor Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Tuesday held a hearing on legislation (HR 493) that would ban employers and insurers from using genetic test results to discriminate against U.S. residents, CQ HealthBeat reports. Similar legislation has been passed twice in the Senate in 2003 and 2005 but never has come up for a vote in the House. The new bill -- introduced by Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) -- has about 180 co-sponsors, roughly equally split between Democrats and Republicans, according to Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). The legislation would bar employers from using information about an employee's genetic makeup in hiring, firing, job placement or promotion decisions. It also would prohibit insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on genetic makeup. Supporters say legislation banning genetic discrimination is necessary because they believe "the potential of the sequencing of the human genome to diagnose and treat disease is not being fulfilled because of fears about disclosure of genetic data," CQ HealthBeat reports. Biggert said the current version of the legislation includes concessions to businesses, such as caps on damage awards based on employer size and provisions that ensure employees must try all administrative remedies before suing. Opponents of the bill, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, believe that such legislation is unnecessary. They say that employers should not be punished for learning about an employees' genetic makeup but rather for any discriminatory actions that follow from that knowledge. The legislation is under the jurisdiction of three House committees: Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means. No timetable has been set for the bill, although "given the widespread support for it, it may move fairly quickly," according to Jodi Seth, Democratic press secretary for the Energy and Commerce Committee. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled to mark up its genetic discrimination bill (S 358) on Wednesday.

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At the House hearing, University of Maryland School of Law Dean Karen Rothenberg said, "To date, close to $3.5 billion has been appropriated to fund the promise of genomic research for the American people." She added that the investment "has the potential to transform medicine as we know it. But unless Congress acts to address the perils associated with unauthorized dissemination of citizens' genetic information, we may never be able to make the transition from research laboratory into the doctor's office." Burton Fishman, a lawyer speaking for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination in Employment Coalition, said, "Any federal legislation prohibiting genetic discrimination in employment should focus on controlling discriminatory conduct, not the flow of information." Fishman added that any legislation for genetic discrimination "should create a federal standard" that should not be "so broadly constructed as to encourage frivolous litigation" (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 1/30).