GINA Legislation: The Future Is Here

By Cody Barbierri

Last Tuesday, a highly publicized bill known as the GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act) legislation was passed by the Senate with a 95-0 vote. Close to final approval, this bill is the crucial next step in anti-discrimination laws that will prohibit both health insurers and employers from discriminating against an individual based on their genetic code. Basically, these institutions can’t hold any of your genetic information against you, ask you to participate in any genetic testing or divulge any genetic information.

Though genetic discrimination is relatively unheard of today, the possibility is on the horizon and approaching fast. Some of you may have seen the movie GATTACA, a sci-fi thriller where humans are placed in society by their genetic code. Though it seemed truly futuristic in 1997, perhaps this theme isn’t so far fetched 11 years later.

As science progresses, corporations, medical facilities, the government and the general population need to take a hard look at this kind of legislation. Scientific progress is essential to our future, but with a keen eye on social responsibility. At the moment, there may be some organizations rolling their eyes about having to deal with another piece of legislation. For them we would say, placing scientific progress ahead of scientific progress blended with corporate social responsibility is not a positive corporate stance. GINA gives these companies the chance to shine – to talk about a brighter, healthier future, but with the right kind of attention to social issues and moral purpose. These companies should emerge as leaders in the wake of congress’ decision and embrace the fact that society feels it necessary to ensure equality for all employees and potential employees.

Much like showing a genuine care for improving sustainability, corporations that demonstrate the right balance of business sense and responsibility, are poised to be role models, and no doubt will been seen in a favorable light by everyone they interact with, from employees to stockholders to customers. In all honestly, do they really have a choice?

Also posted on www.rpgworld2blog.com