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Journalism of Courage
LONDON, JUNE 26: In what scientists call the biological equivalent of man’slanding on the moon and the splitting of the atom, researchers announced onMonday they had completed the working map of the human genome, providing agenetic blueprint that will transform medical care in the 21st century.
"We’ve now got to the point in human history where for the first time we aregoing to hold in our hands the set of instructions to make a human being.That is an incredible philosophical step forward, and will change, I think,the way we think of ourselves," said John Sulston, director of the SangerCentre and the lead British researcher who sequenced one third of thegenome.
Sceptics, however, rang alarm bells claiming that this breakthroughcould usher in a sinister era of perfect people and death to the disabled.The raw data from the publicly funded International Human Genome Projectprovides researchers with 97 percent of the human genetic code, a startingpoint, or basic set of instructions on how humans develop and function.
Researchers will use the three billion letters that make up human DNA toidentify the estimated 60,000 to 100,000 genes in humans and to find wherethey are located on chromosomes and how they contribute to disease.
The scientists, however, emphasised that this was the beginning and not theend. They have mapped 97 percent of the genome, 85 percent of it accuratelyand hope to fill the gaps in the next three years. UK researchers said that,based on an recent analysis of the draft, there were 38,000 confirmed genesand possibly as many as 115,000 genes. Reading the code and applying it tomedicine will tank many many more years of research. John Toy, the MedicalDirector of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in Britain, said: "We havediscovered the human alphabet – what we now have to do is put the letters inthe right order and make a sentence. Only when all that is done shall wehave the book of life to read."
Michael Dexter, director of the Wellcome Trust which funded the UK part ofthe project said: "Mapping the human genome has been compared with putting aman on the moon but I believe it is more than that. This is the outstandingachievement not only of our lifetime but in terms of human history. I saythis because the human genome project, the reading of the book of mankind,does have the potential to impact on the lives of every person on thisplanet."
The hundreds of scientists from the United States, Britain, France, Germany,Japan and China who have been working on the project in 16 centres aroundthe globe have been downloading information daily on the Internet.
Celera Genomics Inc, of Rockville, Maryland, has also been sequencing thedata and has promised to make it public. The information is alreadyproviding researchers with data on diseases ranging from cardiovasculardisease and diabetes to cancers and birth defects.
Along with its medical benefits, the sequencing of the human genome haslifted the lid on a Pandora box’s of ethical and legal issues.
Critics warn that the information could be used by insurance companies andemployers to discriminate against people who have a genetic susceptibilityto certain diseases.
Disabled people fear the information will be used to create perfect peopleand some scientists claim the benefits of the achievement will only beenjoyed by people living in wealthy countries. Aware of the huge financialbenefits, biotechnology companies have been scrambling to patent DNAsequences which scientists and politicians claim should be freely availableto everyone.
