IBM Makes Genetic Employment Pledge

IBM has pledged not to genetic information when making decisions about employment and hiring. This is the first such pledge by a major corporation, although few business take genetic informatin into account in employment anyway.

The few that do would claim they have a bona fide reason to do so.

"Genetic information comes pretty close to the essence of who you are, it's something you can't change," said IBM's chief privacy officer, Harriet Pearson. "It has nothing to do with your employment, how good your contributions are, how good of a team member you are, so making a policy statement in this case is the right thing to do."

The Genetic Alliance, a Washington-based patients advocacy group, called IBM's policy "remarkable" and predicted it would spur other U.S. corporations to follow suit.