From: rhinoceros (rhinoceros@freemail.gr)
Date: Tue Sep 24 2002 - 15:20:46 MDT
Millionaires Lining Up to Buy Personal Gene Maps
September 23, 2002 01:45 PM ET
By Richard Woodman
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=search&StoryID=1484340
LONDON (Reuters Health) - A service to map a person's entire genetic code is being offered by America's genome entrepreneur Craig Venter, according to the Sunday Times.
The newspaper said that for 400,000 (US$621,500), a person would get details of their entire genetic code within 1 week. "Armed with such information, the individual would be able to check for mutations linked with illnesses such as cancer and Alzheimer's," the Sunday Times reported.
The article noted that, at present, scientists know the genetic abnormalities associated with only a few dozen diseases, but it pointed out thousands more were expected to be discovered in the coming decades.
Venter is said to have already signed up several millionaires, though he has declined to name them.
"I have been approached by a number of people who want to have their individual genome decoded," he said. "Initially, we will be able to decode people's genes in less than a week but hope eventually to bring it down to less than a day."
According to the report, 25 million ($38.9 million) will be spent on the new facility, which will offer the service starting later this year.
But others researchers, already upset by Venter's commercial approach to the Human Genome Project, are skeptical.
Dr. Tim Hubbard, head of human genome analysis at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, one of the laboratories involved in the Human Genome Project, said knowing someone's genome was not the same as understanding it.
"We know very little about the link between differences in genes and ill health. Until we do, mapping individual genomes will be like the Russians sending tourists into space. It is fun for those who can afford it, but it is just a good gimmick," he told the newspaper.
Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College London, said: "There has been a lot of fuss about how the revolution in genetics will transform our lives, but we have not seen many results yet. For example, we can predict whether some people are at greater risk of some diseases but we cannot cure many of them--although this may come."
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