Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)

Everyone is worried these days about identity theft; however, if the tenets of GINA are not strictly adhered to, there will be much more personal information lost.

Protecting your DNA, affectionately known as GINA or Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act is as important to today's generation as protecting your Social Security number.  If your life can be ruined by an unknown assailant using your social security card to obtain credit and buy that big screen TV or worldwide vacations, then imagine what big government or private industry will do if they have access to your genetic predisposition.

On a good note - so big business and government know you are predisposed to long life and healthy genes - you and your family get lucky and are given jobs, insurance, education, bank financing for homes, vacations etc., you are a good bet because genetically you are predisposed to a long and healthy life.  You will live on the "good gene" street.

On a bad note - your genetic code pops up in some computer as being predisposed to cancer or mental illness or autoimmune diseases  - why would an insurance company offer you long term insurance, why would an employer hire you, or provide a pension or disability insurance, why would a bank finance a loan for your education or your house - you MIGHT be too sick to pay it back.  That is a BIG MIGHT because we are a long way off on solidly predicting through DNA tests what type of diseases you will get and what types of diseases you MAY get.  Yet, the information is valuable to insurance company, employers, doctors, future mates, etc and may affect the quality of your life - without your knowing it.
Here are the tenets of GINA

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA, is U.S. federal legislation with bipartisan support that protects Americans from discrimination (in health insurance and employment decisions) on the basis of genetic information. (*** Let me digress here for a moment -  if government is leaning to a one payor system and they have access to your genetic predisposition - how much coverage do you think you will be able to obtain? )

GINA has passed through Congress and was signed into law by the President on May 21, 2008. As a result, American insurance companies and health plans (including both group and individual insurers, as well as federally-regulated plans) will be prohibited from:

• looking at your predictive genetic information or genetic services before you enroll
• requesting or requiring that you or your family members take a genetic test
• restricting enrollment based on genetic information
• changing your premiums based on genetic information

GINA also prohibits U.S. employers (including employment agencies, labor organizations, and training programs) from:

• discriminating against who they hire or how much they pay on the basis of genetic information
• requesting or requiring that you or your family members take a genetic test
• disclosing your genetic information in their possession except under specific and specially controlled circumstances.

The bottom line is, protect your personal genetic information.  "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."  Remember Social Security numbers were only supposed to provide you with access to the Social Security Fund.  Today, you can't do anything without a Social Security Number, even if by the time you retire the Social Security Fund is deplete.  Do not allow States to take your DNA, better to save your dollars and have a private DNA test taken at a private DNA facility whose only goal is to confirm biological relationships, not geneticaly predictive diagnostic information.  Most private DNA collectors will work with you on payment options.
There is a whole generation running to the local family courts because state funded DNA Paternity Tests are widely used to confirm paternity and obtain child support.  Next time, take a look at what you are signing - does it provide you with confidentiality on the report?  Does it state that your DNA is being collected only as a means to confirm paternity?  What happens with the DNA once the lab and/or collector have provided you with the Probability of Paternity. The simple Paternity via DNA test that you submit to today, may have long reaching affects on your children.