The Human Genome Project - Brutes or Angels: Human Possibility in the Age of Biotechnology - page 108

1. Why was the hGP undertaken, and how were metaphors important for
its funding?
2. how was completion of the hGP spurred on by competition?
3. What beneficial spin-offs emerge from the hGP?
4. Where is human genome research going next?
5. What are the ethical, legal, and social implications of the hGP?
6. What is the epigenome?
7. how can information from the Chimpanzee and neanderthal Genome
Projects benefit humankind?
human Genome Project: history and the science
There is no better source of information about all aspects of the hGP
than the project's official website, activated for researchers and the public
in 1994. 2 since then, it has been updated regularly, sometimes daily, and
it has links to all of the important documents and publications associated
with the hGP since its inception. let's indulge ourselves with a sampling
of some of the major events, objectives, and findings of the hGP and some
of the media-reported human interest aspects of the project.
Selling the HGP to the Public
During the early 1980s molecular biologists recognized that the technology
existed to determine the entire base sequence for the human genome. But
the feasibility of actually doing it was in doubt for several reasons. first,
estimates were that it would take a commitment from hundreds of scien-
tists over a period of fifteen to twenty years to complete the project. At an
estimated cost of $1.00 per base pair, the project would cost over $3 bil-
lion. Also, the usefulness of the project was controversial and uncertain.
nevertheless, the idea of charting the human genome continued to excite
and intrigue many scientists. By 1986 the pros and cons of embarking upon
the project were being hotly debated in the scientific community. scien-
tists in favor of the project stressed the potential medical benefits of learn-
ing more about the genetic basis of inherited diseases. researchers opposed