James M. Jeffords: “this week's announcement of the completion of the rough draft of the human genetic map is cause for both celebration and…”

“this week's announcement of the completion of the rough draft of the human genetic map is cause for both celebration and concern. One of the challenges that comes to mind immediately is that we must protect Americans against genetic self-incrimination. What we are, should not be used against us. This vast new storehouse of knowledge must be used to advance, not retard, individuals' health and welfare. In 1998, the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee held a hearing on genetic information and health care which proved to be one of the most important of the 105th Congress. Following the hearing, I and Senator Frist, with the other members of the HELP Committee, together with Senator Mack and Senator Snowe, began drafting legislation that builds on Senator Snowe's bill, S. 89, to ensure that individuals would be able to control the use of their predictive genetic information. After a lot of hard work, we agreed to a set of strong protections against the use of genetic information to discriminate in health care. The results of these efforts are reflected in the genetic information provisions of The Patients' Bill of Rights Plus.”