civil rights
June 1, 2008
President Bush signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) into law last week. This law prohibits discrimination of applicants and employees based on genetic information. Senator Ted Kennedy who worked on this legislation for over ten years, referred to it as the first major new civil rights bill of the new century. It passed in the House 414-1 and in the Senate 95-0. Genetic information is defined as an individual’s own tests; the genetic tests of family members; and the manifestation of a disease or disorder in family members. Family member is defined as the spouse; a dependent […]