Anna Eshoo: “I think that's the case today as we gather to support the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, known as GINA. Many…”

“I think that's the case today as we gather to support the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, known as GINA. Many times over the course of American history in this Chamber, discrimination has been struck down. I believe that is what we are doing here today with this bill. When the sequencing of the Human Genome Project was completed in April of 2003, it was a great, great victory in the scientific community. So many of us understood what the implications were for our constituents, for the people of our Nation, and people in the world. Researchers identified genetic markers for a variety of chronic health conditions. When they did, they threw open the doors to increase the potential for early treatment and prevention of numerous diseases. But there was something that stepped in the way, and that was the threat of discrimination against anyone that subjected themselves to the test, found that they had a gene that wasn't perfect, which I think is the potential of every single one of us, and as a result of that, that their job would be threatened, and that their health care insurance could be dropped.”