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| Article - Abstract. To view full article click on the article title. | |
eMJA: Chew, Cracking the code: how will the Human Genome Project affect life as we know it? Cracking the code Cracking the code: how will the Human Genome Project affect life as we know it? " I have seen the Devil in my microscope and I have chained him . . . The Devil . . . is nothing more than a tiresome collection of genes" (Marlon Brando as Dr Moreau in The Island of Dr Moreau; New Line Productions, 1996) MJA 2000; 173: 590 Thus says the scientist who plays God in a film adaptation of H G Wells's novel The island of Dr Moreau.1 As envisioned by Wells in the late 19th century, Moreau used vivisection in attempting to create the perfect human. A hundred years later, movies have turned to gene therapy. Fiction has given voice to some of our worst fears of science and technology out of control. It is therefore not surprising that, as the massive international effort of the Human Genome Project completes the sequencing of the human genome, the hype and hope have been blunted by legitimate concern about the potential for abuse of this technology. Cracking the DNA code is only the beginning. The challenges which lie beyond include detecting the clinical significance of variations in genetic sequences, identifying different functions of DNA, RNA and other molecular systems in the cell, and unravelling the complexities of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions.2,3 The tasks ahead are fraught with difficulties not just technical in nature -- ethical, legal and social implications are yet to be worked through.3 For the clinician, cracking the code will affect everyday practice in the not-too-distant future. Disease taxonomy will evolve from phenotype or clinical descriptors to genotype and molecular labelling.3 Recognising genetic variants which increase a person's susceptibility to certain diseases will lead to practical interventions which may be pharmacological (the burgeoning field of "pharmacogenetics"), environmental or behavioural.4 Picture these patients in a day's consultation: Guanosino, a 28-year-old with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolaemia, consents to genetic analysis to determine his risk of further cardiovascular morbidity after routine genetic counselling. Full Article: http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/173_11_041200/chew/chew.html |
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2006 Ethics-Governance.com |
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