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Vermont AG’s office urges express, stepwise consent in proposed Genetic Information Privacy Act (H.639)
Summary
The Vermont Attorney General’s Office told the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee that H.639 would give consumers clearer notice, express consent at each decision point, and simple deletion rights after the 23andMe breach highlighted risks of genetic-data transfers. Committee members proposed technical edits; no vote was taken.
The Vermont House Committee on Commerce & Economic Development heard testimony Jan. 29 on H.639, the proposed Genetic Information Privacy Act, as Todd Dalos, assistant attorney general, urged lawmakers to require express, stepwise consent and stronger protections for genetic samples and data.
Dalos told the committee that genetic data is uniquely sensitive and immutable, and that privacy risks are magnified by family-tree linkages. “Genetic data is not just data about people,” he said. “Genetic data is people.” He described the 23andMe cyberattack and bankruptcy that affected roughly 14,000 directly breached accounts and an estimated 6.9 million interconnected accounts, saying those numbers illustrate how genetic information can be amplified when combined…
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