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13,000 Volunteer To Put Personal Genomes Online
Lucas123 writes "The Personal Genome Project, which opened itself up to the public on April 25, has to date signed up 13,000 of the target 100,000 volunteers needed to create the world's first publicly accessible genome database. Volunteers will go through a battery of written tests and then offer DNA samples from which their genetic code will be derived and then published to help scientists discover links between genes and hereditary traits. While the Personal Genome Project won't publish names, just about everything else will be made public, including photos and complete medical histories. Scientists hope to some day have millions of genomes in the database."
Ever watch GATTACA? Think about what they coined "discrimination down to a science". Databases do not need your name to figure out majorities. If insurance companies linked a mole on the left cheekbone to a higher probability of cancer... well, maybe you'd just get the mole removed.
Nevertheless, I'm all for the advancement of science and am interested in contributing to the project. Who knows, maybe if all the pessimists advance the project, it'll be done properly.
Good point. However, if they are not asking you for information that can be used to link directly back to you, then the database is waste of time. What will stop the mis-creants from stuffing junk into the data points? What will prevent someone with a low priority condition, to submit as multiple people in an attempt to up the priority of their condition.
what if I'm denied coverage at some point down the road because of it?
It's only a matter of time.
Modern insurance policies can deny you coverage due to a pre-existing condition. It won't be long before we're able to identify all kinds of disorders and diseases with a simple genetic screening. Then we just call having a 90% chance to develop cancer a pre-existing condition, and you're screwed.
It is going to happen.
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde