Slashdot Mirror
World's Largest Medical Experiment
eldavojohn writes "Recently in the UK, a Biobank project has been rolled out to 'unpick' the genetic basis of diseases such as cancer on half a million volunteers. This is based on the success of a three-month pilot phase conducted on 3,800 participants. From the article: 'Over the next four years, blood and urine samples will be collected from volunteers aged 40 to 69, to help scientists unravel the genetic foundations of common diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia and joint problems. If you live in the UK, agreeing to this survey may involve a little more than you would expect."
Smoking i hardly a good way to control population, by the time smokers die they most likely already have children.
If...
they properly inform people about the program and its uses before having them volunteer.
they are rigorous in protecting privacy. (No AOL fiasco.)
they closely monitor different companies are doing with the data - no cross-referencing with their own data to identify people, no reselling of the data, etc.
they allow patients to "opt-out" even after they have volunteered.
they provide it for free to interested, responsible paries. (Or at least cheap enough that major pharmaceutical companies aren't the only customers.)
they follow the ethical standards of the profession, and not the ethical standards of the mighty dollar (or pound).
Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
The problem with this is that all the volunteers won't see a penny, but the medical institutions that come up with a medical breakthrough as a result of the data obtained from the volunteers will make billions. They will patent the cure, market it and the volunteers get nothing.
In the best sense, surely any profitable outcome that arises out of data provided by these volunteers should be subject to some sort of profit sharing? Afterall, without the volunteers, it may not be possible for these pharmaceutical companies to develop the medicine.
(Not to mention the fact that the volunteers may find out stuff they'd rather not know.)
. . .the military invented it and it came from monkeys. One on the same.
I think some of the monkeys might tend to get upset at the suggestion that they evolved from the military.
KFG
...a species that historically procreates before 30 years of age is kept alive until their 80s by improved hygiene and medicine. Your body was never designed to last as long as it usually does nowadays, and the systems break down. Cancer isn't a "manmade virus;" it's the end result of a lifetime's worth of minor genetic insults.
Umm, No that is completely and totally incorrect. However "We and our Pets" are the only ones DIAGNOSED and TREATED for any of these conditions. The wild animals that suffer from these problems all DIE and are EATEN by predators or scavengers.
Why is it that some people will believe the MOST RIDICULOUS things without doing a single bit of research on their own or even applying any CRITICAL LOGIC ???
It's obvious that evolution is no longer selecting for additional intelligence! Or perhaps it's just the safety nannies preventing evolution...
Volunteers in medical studies often (nearly ALWAYS) recieve medical advice and consultation, possibly free medication, and follow-through care. It sounds like you do not want to volunteer -- please don't. Some people, however, feel that participating in a worthy endeavor is payment enough. If it leads to improved health care, great. If you are concerned about pharma companies making money, go into politics. These issues do not belong in science.
Your post is so full of crap. Wild animals get cancer as well. I can only hope you're kidding, and the mods are just high as usual.