After more than a dozen years of working on the issue, Congress is rightly poised to clear a bill that would prohibit insurers and employers from using genetic information as a source of discrimination.

The bill, which cleared the U.S. House last week, bans employers from using one's genetic information in making hiring, firing or promotion decisions. Likewise, insurers would be prohibited from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on a person's genetic disposition to certain diseases.

The benefits of prohibiting such discrimination are clear. For starters, it would alleviate the fear of losing jobs or health insurance coverage for those in need of crucial genetic testing for medical reasons.

Increasing privacy protections also would provide a much-needed boost to genetic science. The lack of these protections has been hindering genetic research for the last 15 years, said Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

While opponents say examples of such discrimination are rare, the bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-N.Y., who first introduced the bill 12 years ago, flatly disagrees. She cited several cases of genetic discrimination on the House floor.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 cleared the House with a 420-3 vote. The bill is expected to easily pass in the Senate; and President Bush has said he will sign it.

These are good signs. The government has already invested $3.7 billion in the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003. The ban on genetic discrimination would ensure the job is completed, with proper protections that safeguard individual privacy and allow us to make the most of scientific research in this field.