Higher Ed | Daily Report

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Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton, has introduced a bill that would prohibit the California State University system from requesting DNA samples from enrolled or prospective students for genetic-testing purposes and would ask the University of California to refrain from doing so as well.

Assembly Bill 70 is a reaction to a controversial freshman-orientation program at UC Berkeley that asks incoming freshman to voluntarily submit DNA samples for confidential genetic testing.

If approved, the legislation would become effective immediately as an urgency statute, but it would still be too late to stop the Berkeley program because the university sent out the last of some 5,500 testing kits this week. Meanwhile, legislators are on summer recess until Aug. 2, the Daily Californian and Scientific American report. 

Even though the proposed legislation won't stop UC Berkeley from testing students' DNA, it would require the university to report any expenditures related to "unsolicited" genetic-testing requests – from any source – by January 2011. It would then require the state controller's office to transfer that amount from the university to the state's general fund. 

It won't be clear how much Berkeley's program will cost until students have submitted all their test results, according to the program's website. The university estimates it will cost around $50,000, a university spokesman said.

The bill would provide an exception for genetic testing and counseling that is part of a patient's medical care and performed by a licensed health care provider. 

"We're generally concerned about the abuse of DNA gathering," Norby told the Daily Californian in an interview Tuesday. "It should only be used for specific health reasons or to prove or disprove criminality."

Mark Schlissel, one of the designers of "Bring Your Genes to Cal" and dean of biological sciences at UC Berkeley, told Scientific American that the bill won't change anything about the program but still would have troubling implications for the university:

The bill is concerning in that it appears to be a legislative attempt to dictate aspects of the curriculum at the university. … The notion that an individual legislator can object to something we are doing on a curricular basis and turn it into legislation is chilling because educational policy is the privy of educators.

The bill came through in a "gut-and-amend" process, the Daily Californian reported. Originally introduced in December 2008 to deal with how school districts classify English learners in K through 12 schools, the bill was completely rewritten June 24.

Meanwhile, incoming UC Berkeley freshmen have been receiving saliva kits that will allow them to voluntarily send in a DNA sample to be tested for three common gene variants that affect how the body metabolizes dairy products, alcohol and folic acid. 

Scientists will analyze the kits and students will be able to check their personal results from a website using a barcode. Then, UC Berkeley professor Jasper Rine will present a special lecture on personalized medicine Sept. 13. For students who want to discuss their test results individually, Rine and Schlissel have said they will be available for one-on-one conversations.

Critics such as the Council for Responsible Genetics have opposed the program, saying incoming students might feel pressure to join in and that the genetic information might be used for unintended purposes. In an open letter, Schlissel said the only person with access to an individual's test results is that person.