AFFIRMATIVE — EMPLOYMENT — GENETIC SCREENING — INHERENCY 298

STATE LAWS ARE INADEQUATE

STATE BENETIC TESTING PROTECTIONS ARE SPOTTY AND UNEVEN

USA TODAY, July 26, 1999, SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 14A TITLE: With patient-data leaks spreading, Congress fans the flames // acs-EE2001

If you happen to live in Georgia, your genetic information is a closely guarded secret. Results from genetic tests can't be released to anyone without your permission. Eighteen other states also padlock that sensitive personal information, more or less. But in the remaining 31 states, genetic data are pretty much an open book. So it goes with medical privacy. Thanks to the lack of any uniform national privacy rules, states have, on their own, tried to give residents some modicum of privacy protection. But the rules are spotty and often weak.