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World's Largest Medical Experiment

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the half-a-million-volunteers dept.

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."

2 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. DeCODE by tom8658 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Theres a project like this in Iceland called DeCODE. They've been given a lot of power over the data collected, enough to make some people wary. It's a fair assumption that this project will face similar problems, although the measures governing DeCODE seem to protect the company much more than the individual. It will be interesting to see how Biobank handles this.

  2. Re:What they really need to get this rolling...... by 2.7182 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think such a study would be seminal work in this area....