There's a fascinating (to me) article in the January 18, 1999 issue of the
New Yorker (pages 40-51). The author is Michael Specter. The title is:
"Decoding Iceland", and the subtitle is: "The next big medical
breakthrough may result from one scientist's battle to map the Viking gene
pool". It's about Dr. Kari Stefansson, the founder of the biotechnology
company Decode Genetics in Iceland, and his plans to create a giant
electronic database in Iceland, which will allow his firm to hunt for
genes associated with many common diseases.
Three excerpts:
"... researchers discovered only one BRCA2 mutation in Iceland: Einar's"
[Einar was a sixteenth-century Icelandic cleric, who transmitted a
mutation in his BRCA2 gene to many descendants in Iceland].
"Most genetic researchers agree that such a database could become a
scientific instrument of unparalleled power, but the proposal also set off
one of the most rancorous debates in the long history of Iceland".
"The legislation" [to enable the creation of the database, passed by the
Icelandic legislature on December 17, 1998, was, according to one of its
critics] "a totalitarian act which casts a dark shadow over Iceland in the
international scientific community".
The article illustrates vividly how the field of "genomics" is presenting
extraordinary scientific opportunities, and also extraordinary social and
ethical challenges.
For more information about the legislation in Iceland, please try the
website at: http://www.database.is (there are also notes I've assembled,
that include material about Decode Genetics, at a webpage of mine, at:
http://www.interlog.com/~jtill/genetics01.html).
--Jim
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Jim Till
mailto:ca916@freenet.carleton.ca
http://members.tripod.com/~ca916/index.html
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ca916/
Toronto ON
A discussion forum is available for women at risk of getting
ovarian or breast cancer:
http://disc.server.com/Indices/39838.html
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Received on Fri Jan 22 02:19:56 1999 EST