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Implications
and Costs
Implications
 “...
the Human Genome Project could easily be the most important
organized scientific effort of mankind.” say M.R.C. Greenwood
and Rachel E. Levinson in their article, “Expanding the
Horizons of Biotechnology in the Twenty-First Century.”
On one hand, the project involves so many people, and
not only geneticists; rather the Human Genome Project
relies on all scientific and technological backgrounds
from physics and chemistry to engineering and robotics
to computer science. Even sociologists, ethicists, and
theologians are involved. Never before in the history
of humanity have so many professionals united under a
single scientific endeavor.
| The project’s medical benefits
are astounding as well. As each new gene is isolated,
examined, and identified, we learn more and more about
the human body and how it works on the microscopic
and genetic levels. Diseases are more easily diagnosed.
Sometimes, even before symptoms appear, doctors can
identify at-risk patients simply by examining their
genes. Gene therapy, correcting diseases via genetic
engineering, can also cure more diseases now that
more disease-causing genes have been located. In some
cases, doctors no longer need to perform surgery;
instead they can solve the problem by merely introducing
healthy DNA. |
Image of human chromosomes
Image
provided courtesy of Applied Imaging
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Costs
| The
estimated total cost of the Human Genome Project is
a staggering $3 billion. Why does it cost so much?
Well, consider all of the people and equipment involved:
computers are needed to store the data; technicians
are needed to maintain the computers, geneticists
are needed to map the genome; laboratory equipment
is required, and so forth. The US government provides
most of the funds (other funds coming from big companies
and other countries). In 1995, President Clinton proposed
to Congress that $241 million be budgeted to the National
Institute of Health and the Department of Energy who
head the project (this amount includes money for actual
research, not employee salaries). This amount is nearly
$42 million more than the amount spent in 1994 and
$171 million more than the amount in 1993. The project
is clearly growing and demanding more attention. |
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The
project is also attracting the attention of those in the
business sector. Each year, many new biomed companies
emerge, hoping to capitalize from the new research.
    
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