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Nature magazine reports that a single US Senator, Republican Tom Coburn, has blocked the Genetic Information Nondscrimination Act that is currently before the US Congress [Wadman M (2007) Nature 448(7154):631]. The Act proposes that there should be a ban on use of genetic information in connection with employment or insurance underwriting decisions. President George Bush has indicated that he will approve the Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives in April, once it has cleared the Senate (see previous newsletter article). Senator Coburn has placed a ‘hold’ on the Act, reportedly because of discrepances in the definition of genetic tests in different sections of the text, and because in his view the Act would make it too easy in some cases for individuals to sue employers who were alleged to have breached its provisions.

Many geneticists and public policy advocates in the US firmly support the Act and are outraged by this further delay to its becoming law. However, given the difficulty of defining ‘genetic information’ and ‘genetic tests’ in any fair and consistent way, some critics argue that caution is justified. In the UK, current proposals by the Discrimination Law Review for a single Equality Bill do not support a legislative approach on this issue (see newsletter article).