Ozzy Osbourne To Be Genetically Decoded

Dashiva Dan writes "DNA research lab Knome has announced that it is going to sequence Ozzy's entire genome. Ozzy, the former lead singer of Black Sabbath, reality television star, and spokesman for World of Warcraft among many other things, has been selected so they can discover, among other things, how drugs are absorbed in the body. The amount of abuse Ozzy has put himself through and survived is a large part of why he was chosen."

Comments

Survived?

[JorDan Clock]

I think this all really hinges on your definition of "survived."

Re:Survived?

[interkin3tic]

He's more coherent than a lot of younger meth or crack users out there.

Re:Survived?

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

I think Keith Richards qualifies for that; is he being decoded as well?

Re:Survived?

[JanneM]

"is he being decoded as well?"

He's already pickled; they can wait and do that at any time.

Re:Survived?

[hitmark]

makes one wonder how it would have worked out, had it been sold next to alcohol.

Re:Survived?

[damienl451]

That's right, our biggest addiction rates came from the men in "clean white coats".... but it was all legal.

[...]

The biggest aid in bringing down both the addiction rate, and cleaning up the quality of drugs? A government law. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which prohibited the consumption of opiates without a prescription.

Presumably, obtaining a prescription would not have been very hard if, as you argue, doctors were so keen on giving morphine to their patients. I think your post is quite self-contradictory. If the large addiction rates came from men in clean white coats, then the Food and Drug Act would not have made any difference. Might it not be like OHSA, i.e. the law came into force as other factors were influencing drug use/workplace safety and did not directly cause any change? Could it not indicate that, by 1906, people, including the government, had realized the risks associated with the use of morphine and were becoming less willing to use it? This would make a lot of sense since the Act was only passed *after* journalists wrote scathing articles about the patent medicine industry. Another element that bears this out is that Coca Cola stopped including cocaine in its beverage in 1903.

Furthermore, the Act did not even prohibit the consumption of opiates without a prescription. Rather, it imposed mandatory labeling requirements for drugs and food containing alcohol, opiates, etc. Most of the rules laid out in the Act are common sense rules that are simply meant to prevent fraud and ensure that individuals can give informed consent before taking a drug. Seems a lot better than assuming that people can't make the right decision when they are presented with all the facts. My point of view is that drug abuse and alcoholism were rampant in the 19th and early 20th century because standards of living were much lower, many diseases that are now considered minor inconveniences could kill you, and, for many people, life was overall much less enjoyable than it is now. Given these constraints, it is understandable that these people would have different time preferences than we do and favor present enjoyment (i.e. getting high, smoking, etc.) over future benefits.

Wow. Like that's costing them $10K retail.

[Anonymous Coward]

Congratulations to Knome on a PR scheme that's getting them mainstream advertising for almost no money. I haven't seen this much bogosity from actual scientists since they shot John Glenn into space to "learn about the effects on space on old people".

I'm sure they'll find the drug abuse resistance gene in no time. (Which seems like a really priority scientific endeavor.)

Will their next genetic decoding involve LiLo? TMZ wants to know.

Re:The secret to his DNA revealed

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it has. He has been dead twice, and come back twice. That's more than Jesus.