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3rd Chromosome Deciphered
veeoh writes: "Another chapter in the human book of life has been published.
Scientists working as part of the Human Genome Project(including some from the Wellcome Trust) have deciphered the complete genetic instructions of a third chromosome, one of the 24 bundles of DNA that carry our genetic material.
The BBC has an
article about the discovery"
I for one am glad that my government is competing with the private sector. This doubling of the research makes sure that it is more reliable when it is finished.
How would you like to get a revolutionary new cancer drug, only to find out that the shotgunning method used by Celera missed a few steps? With the government and Celera both having data, errors can be found and corrected before they cost someone dearly.
DUH. The government can't hold patents.
And why shouldn't the Government compete with the private sector? Especially in cases like this, where the companies would undoubtedly make a move to restrict the information and use of it, it's good to have a group who is required to release it into the Public Domain later working on it.
Of course, I could be totally wrong.
As always the difference between the fool and the wiseman is knowing what to do with the information at hand....
I'm appalled that our government would waste so much money on something that could easily be done in the private sector.
[...]
The government should never be competing with the private sector.
Hhmm...
This type of view is often seen on Slashdot. It seems to be a common view in America. It is much less common over here in Europe. (But then we're a bunch of liberal losers, of course...)
Your government put a man on the Moon. Do you think that would have happened if it was left up to the private sector? Similarly with the Genome project. There is masses of work to be done, expensive work, a lot of which is not going to have any immediate financial payback. (Despite what most people think, the mapping of the genome is just a small part of the task ahead to actually understand the whole thing).
Just as the Moon landing would never have taken place without the government, neither would the complete mapping of the Human Genome, and Mankind would be poorer for it.
As a Slashdot reader you may appreciate another perspective. The Internet came out of US government funded work. The Web came out of the CERN project, which is funded by governments internationally. Many of the most commonly-used formats on the web (JPEG, MPEG, MP3) came from EU funded projects. If it was left up to private corporations, it might have taken another twenty years (or more?) before we had anything resembling the Web we have today.
I know a lot of you Americans hate paying taxes and distrust your government, but don't let that blind you to the fact that governments are often the driving force behind new technologies, not corporations.
Actually, it's worse than that - chromosomes don't say "make hair like this" - they say "make this protein", and that's -all- they say. To paraphrase a great quote from Alpha Centuari (the game, yes) "You cannot take the gene for an elephant's trunk and put it onto a giraffe, and get a giraffe with an elephant's trunk, because there IS no gene for an elephant's trunk. What you can do with genes is chemistry, because genes code for chemicals."
That said, you don't know HOW a particular protein will interact in a given host unless you know the rest of the chemistry for that host. Stick human growth hormone in a fish, and it won't grow - thus, if you stuck the gene that codes for HGH into a fish, it won't get bigger either.
Then again, all of this is somewhat moot, because for the most part, they do understand a good deal of the biochemistry of animals (including mice) and it's very similar to that of humans.
It's a sad commentary on "civilized" society that three lifestyle-related diseases are presented in a sentence that places the blame on essentially defective genes. Diabetes, now reaching epidemic proportions in adults and children, is nearly always caused by a poor diet. Obesity is caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. As a former sufferer of eczema, I proved for myself that a lifestyle change could cure it. By converse, my lifestyle caused it.
I'm not finding fault with the researchers or trying to cause a ruckus in general, but don't be surprised if these discoveries lead to a society where no one is aware that these (and other) diseases are a result of lifestyle, and every one is lined up at the doctor's office to shell out large sums of $$$ to have their "defective" genes fixed. Remember also that these diseases strain the bodily systems (or cause "imbalance" in non-allotropic medical parlance), and lead to other diseases, causing a potentially endless cycle ending only in bankruptcy/non-insurability/death...
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
Doesn't it bother you the least little bit that organizations--whether private or public--are trying so hard to convince us that mapping our genetic material will ultimately benefit the generations to come if we just trust them enough to do the right thing?
No, it doesn't bother me. You're paranoid. Really.
Perhaps there is reason for this level of paranoia in the US. Is there? What is this terrible thing that your government has done to make you Americans feel like this?
I know people who work on projects like the Human Genome project. I've worked on lots of government (UK and EU) funded projects myself. The intentions behind these projects are good. The people doing them are good people.
I'm not so naive as to think that everything governments do is good, but when it comes to things like the Human Genome project, I don't think we have any reason to be paranoid.