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This week a bill has been passed to President Bush that would make genetic discrimination illegal, guaranteeing that our jobs and health insurance coverage could never hinge on what might happen with our health.

FoxNews reports that Bush is expected to sign the "Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act", which lawmakers and advocates are calling "the first major civil rights act of the 21st century."

Already too many Americans have been refusing to take genetic tests that could reveal a tendency towards dangerous conditions, even though earlier treatment could save their lives. Others have been using false names and paying cash for these tests because they don't want the information used against them by their employer or health insurance company.

It sounds like a crazy science fiction novel, but health insurance companies and employers have used genetic testing to discriminate before. As it says in the article, in the 1970s, several insurers denied coverage to black Americans who carried the gene for sickle cell anemia.

Thankfully, once the president signs the bill into law, neither health insurance companies nor employers will be able to use genetic information regarding what we might, or might not have, to discriminate against us.