The effort to collect samples of DNA from diverse populations strives to overcome alleged public misunderstanding of its aims. |
SIDEBAR: For More Information
Last month the 15-person NRC committee, commissioned by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, heard testimony from the project's organizers as well as from its proponents and critics. The panel, which comprises geneticists, anthropologists, ethicists, and others, is charged with examining the scientific, ethical, legal, social, logistical, and funding issues that surround the international project.
HGDP organizers say it will provide new anthropological and biomedical information on the human species. "Identifying complex disease genes, and . . . disentangling multiple cases of disease" are some of the potential biomedical contributions expected of the project, stated Mary-Claire King, the American Cancer Society Professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and an HGDP founder, at the NRC meeting.
HGDP has been endorsed by ...
