Nearly seven years after declaring in a Presidential Radio Address that "[g]enetic discrimination is unfair to workers and their families and that "[t]o deny employment or insurance to a healthy person based only on a predisposition violates our country's belief in equal treatment and individual merit, on May 21, 2008, President George W.
Bush signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). Intended to encourage Americans to take advantage of advances in the genetic sciences without fear of adverse consequences, GINA provides broad protections in employment and health benefits against the improper collection, use or disclosure of employees' genetic information. Although GINA does not become effective until November 21, 2009, employers should immediately begin taking steps to ensure compliance with the Act.



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