DarkMatter
03-30-2006, 01:42 PM
A Brazilian activist group called the Coalition Against Biopiracy (http://www.captainhookawards.org/nominations/google) has awarded Google the Captain Hook Award for Biopiracy for its involvment in creating a searchable database of human genes.
It seems G is providing hardware and search engineers to a gene research center called the Ventor Institute (http://www.venterinstitute.org/) . The institute wants to use all the data gathered during the Human Genome Project to create a search that people (doctors? patients? insurance companies?) can use to identify their own (or other peoples?) genetic predispositions:
Individual users will then input their own genetic sequence for a read out of their genetic predispositions analyzed against the existing database.
The Coalition defines biopiracy as:
"the monopolization of genetic resources such as seeds and genes taken from the peoples or farming communities that have nurtured those resources. It also refers to the theft of traditional knowledge from those cultures."
Since genetic information can never be truly anonymous (there are always markers that can reveal identity) the privacy issues are enormous.
But would the benefits outweigh those concerns? This technology could alert people to genetic predispositions and conditions they might never have known about, or might have found out about too late. Perhaps this information could give people a heads up and help them avoid or minimize the health risks involved?
It seems G is providing hardware and search engineers to a gene research center called the Ventor Institute (http://www.venterinstitute.org/) . The institute wants to use all the data gathered during the Human Genome Project to create a search that people (doctors? patients? insurance companies?) can use to identify their own (or other peoples?) genetic predispositions:
Individual users will then input their own genetic sequence for a read out of their genetic predispositions analyzed against the existing database.
The Coalition defines biopiracy as:
"the monopolization of genetic resources such as seeds and genes taken from the peoples or farming communities that have nurtured those resources. It also refers to the theft of traditional knowledge from those cultures."
Since genetic information can never be truly anonymous (there are always markers that can reveal identity) the privacy issues are enormous.
But would the benefits outweigh those concerns? This technology could alert people to genetic predispositions and conditions they might never have known about, or might have found out about too late. Perhaps this information could give people a heads up and help them avoid or minimize the health risks involved?