Keeping the GINA in the bottle: asessing the current need for genetic non-discrimination legislation in Canada - full access

"The background to the adoption of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) in the United States has important lessons for Canada, especially in view of the increasing tread toward privatized services within the Canadian public health care system. When the US legislation was finally adopted in May 2008, observers rejoiced that “[a]t last, the United States has a federal law that protects consumers from discrimination by health insurers and employers on the basis of genetic information.”¹ GINA is the culmination of a long process that began in 1995 when federal lawmakers first introduced the legislation. In the interim, more than 45 American states had passed their own genetic nondiscrimination laws.²
Such a high level of legislative activity indicates a deep and abiding public concern about the issue of genetic discrimination. Yet the same level of angst has yet to make its way north. Although a recent Canadian study reports on perceptions of genetic discrimination with regard to people at risk for Huntington’s disease,³ discussion of the general issue in Canada has been limited and is focused primarily on discrimination in the context of life insurance.⁴ More significantly, there is no legislation comparable to GINA at either the federal or the provincial/territorial level in Canada. Does the absence of such legislation mean that Canadians are at higher risk of genetic discrimination than Americans? Does Canada require similar legislation?"