Law prevents use of our genetic material

'The sky is fall, the sky is falling,' said Chicken Little. In this case Anne Wilder Chamberlain is standing in for Ms. Little. In her May 27 letter she suggested that Public Law 110-233, The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007, requires employers to take our DNA for a national database.

If that were even remotely close to the truth, would it have passed the House 414-1 and the Senate 95-0? The entire Idaho delegation voted yes. That is about as rare as a Democrat getting elected to political office in Idaho. Does anyone but the most disengaged alarmist believe that would happen if the bill did what Ms. Little suggests?

What this law actually does is prevent health insurers and employers from using our genetic information, wherever they might get it, to deny insurance or employment. It took 13 years to pass. But in the end it received the most lopsided, bipartisan support of any bill I can recall.

BOB WYNHAUSEN

Sandpoint