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The Human Genome Project Essay

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The Human Genome Project

Almost every aspect that makes a person unique is due to genetic factors, from the color of an individual's eyes to the functions of white blood cells. The one thing that makes an individual's unique characteristics the hardest to understand is the fact that it is all composed of four bases in different patterns. These patterns of adenine, thiamine, guanine and cytosine are the only things that differ one human from the next. This genetic code is contained in every cell that is found in the human body. Gregor Mendel first discovered the foundations of inheritance in the nineteenth century. His discovery was the basis that has now made it possible for humans to learn more about the genetic code. Mendel's …show more content…

The next two goals of the project are to store all of the data on databases and create tools to analyze this information. The final goal of the project is to tackle the ethical, legal and social issues that may arise during the time it takes to complete the project (2).

The completion time of the project has been accelerated due to new advances in technology. The new goals include having a working 90% draft sequence by the summer of 2000 and finishing the project by the year 2003. The finished project in 2003 would be a 100% high quality sequence of all of the base pair sequences of the human genome. The DOE and the NIH have also stated that one of the highest priorities of the HGP is to not only complete the project but to make all of the information available to the public (3). The early completion of the HGP does not come at a bargain price. The estimated budgets for 1999 alone are $89.8 million for the DOE and $225.7 million for the NIH, bringing the grand total to $315.5 million for one year (4).

The HGP is progressing faster than what was expected, but a race to be the first to complete the human genetic sequence has emerged and become very aggressive. For example, in 1998, the Perkin-Elmer Corporation and Dr. J. Craig Venter, head of the Institute for Genomic Research, announced that they intended to start a new genomics company. The companies' intent was to

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