WASHINGTON – Congress sent President Bush a bill Thursday forbidding employers and insurance companies from using genetic tests showing people are at risk of developing cancer, heart disease or other ailments to reject their job applications, promotions or health care coverage, or in setting premiums.

Bush was expected soon to sign the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which lawmakers and advocates called “the first major civil rights act of the 21st century.” Federal law already bans discrimination by race and gender.

“Your skin color, your gender, all of those are part of your DNA,” said Francis Collins, head of the National Human Genome Research Institute. “Shouldn’t the rest of your DNA also fall under that protective umbrella?”

Researchers supported the bill because Americans have been refusing to take genetic tests or have been using false names and paying cash because they didn’t want the information used against them by their employer or insurance company, Collins said.

The bill would prohibit health insurance companies from using genetic information to set premiums or determine enrollment eligibility. Similarly, employers could not use genetic information in hiring, firing or promotion decisions.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who authored the legislation, and Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud of the 2nd District applauded its approval by the House.

The passage of the bill “represents the culmination of an effort that began more than 10 years ago to put into place landmark protections to safeguard Americans against genetic discrimination,” Snowe said in a statement. “Like race and gender bias, genetic discrimination is based on the unchangeable – yet it also requires a deliberate effort to obtain gene data in order to discriminate. For the first time, we are acting to prevent discrimination before it takes firm hold – so that Americans can act to improve their health without fear.”

“Passage of this bill is a long time in the making,” said Michaud. “By prohibiting the improper use of genetic information, Americans no longer have to fear any consequences from the life-saving potentials of genetic testing.”