Federal Genetic Nondiscrimination Legislation: The New Right and the Race to Protect DNA at the Local, State, and Federal Level
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FEDERAL GENETIC NONDISCRIMINATION
LEGISLATION: THE NEW RIGHT AND THE
RACE TO PROTECT DNA AT THE LOCAL, STATE,
AND FEDERAL LEVEL
Katherine A. Hathaway'
When the Human Genome Project (HGP) officially began in 1990,' it
was overshadowed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),2 the
new federal legislation aimed at combating discrimination based on a
person's disability. While the ADA was the result of a massive
legislative effort to extend protection to people with physical or mental
impairments,3 few were discussing the legal implications of the Human
+ J.D. Candidate, May 2003, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of
Law. The author would like to thank Professor Roger Hartley for his advice and support
and her family for providing indispensable diversions and perspective during the writing
process.
1. See Daniel Drell, The Human Genome Project: What a Legal Assistant Needs to
Know, 27 J. LEGAL ASSISTANTS 2 available at http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/publicat/
miscpubs/legalasst.html (Aug. 2, 2000); see also National Human Genome Research
Institute, The Human Genome Project, at http://www.genome.gov/page.cfm?pagelD=
10001694 (last visited Aug. 18, 2002). The Human Genome Project began in 1986 with
funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. See Drell, supra. In 1990, a joint effort was
launched by the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. See id.
2. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213 (2000).
3. See 42 U.S.C. § 12101(a). Congress enacted the ADA because it found that
discrimination against disabled individuals was taking place in such critical areas as
employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication,
recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services. Id. §
12101(a)(3). Additionally, Congress found that disabled individuals persistently
encountered discrimination in many forms, including outright intentional exclusion, the
discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers; the
failure to make modifications to building structures; exclusionary practices; relegation to
lesser services, programs, activities, benefits[, and] jobs. Id. § 12101(a)(5). Congress also
found that individuals with disabilities are a discrete ... minority who have been faced
with restrictions and limitations and relegated to a position of political powerlessness in.
. . society, based on characteristics beyond their control, which results in stereotypic
assumptions not indicative of the individual. Id. § 12101(a)(7). Congress needed to enact
legislation because unfair discrimination denies disabled persons the opportunity to
compete on an equal basis and to pursue opportunities for which our free society is
justifiably famous. See id. § 12101(a)(9). The purpose of the ADA is:](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/cathu52&div=11&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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