Biotech

Four years after Human Genome Project was completed (2003), James D. Watson, The Nobel Prize winner who helped discover the molecular structure of DNA, got his entire genome map. He has just exposed all of his imperfections to public view. Now, he is taking personal risk due to his genome publicly available.

Will Discrimination Occur?
Genetically-based discrimination issue has been risen as a bio-ethics case due to Human Genome Project. The ethical problems are about, for example, how if there is case that someone reveals unfavorable personal information about a patient (and patient’s relatives) and whether its implication could become unfair discrimination that come from insurance companies or employers.

Watson’s Map is minus Apolipoprotein E
Dr. Watson will make his genome map available for researcher to study it, except of his Apolipoprotein E gen. The gen predisposes a person towarad Alzheimer’s disease. “Since we can’t really do much about Alzheimer’s, I didn’t want to know whether I was at risk,” he said.

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