[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H9839]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               GENETIC PRIVACY IS A VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I believe the issue of genetic privacy is 
of the utmost importance. With new forms of genetic testing, we will be 
able to test an individual's likelihood of contracting a number of 
diseases. The possibilities that arise that employers and health 
insurance can use this information to discriminate is out there.
  This is a civil rights issue and a civil rights issue we should be 
concerned with. People who are already at risk due to their genetic 
makeup should not have to worry about the additional hardship of losing 
their job or health insurance.
  The Republican Congress and the bill we passed yesterday included for 
the first time in human history the words ``genetic information.'' That 
is part of the bill that the gentleman from Illinois, Dennis Hastert, 
prepared as special task master to bring health care to the House 
floor, and we now have the words ``genetic information'' so that no one 
can be discriminated against because of genetic information.

                              {time}  0915

  And I think all of our colleagues and all of the people across this 
country should realize for the first time in human history, we now have 
those words in the bill and we are making a start.

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