Rival researchers this week announced that they had completed a draft model of the human genome -- the blueprint of the human being. The breakthrough was hailed as "a milestone in science," a "revolution in medical science" and "the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind." For once, the hyperbole might be accurate. But the unraveling of the human genome also poses innumerable challenges of a different sort. Dealing with those social, political and philosophical issues will prove every bit as formidable as the science. The real work is now only beginning.
The genome is the genetic code for human beings. This "book of life" is made up of about 3.15 billion letters of DNA. The trick is reading it. Only about 5 percent of those letters combine to make words. Scientists have had to find out what the words are and then locate them within the entire mess. It has taken 10 years, $300 million and two high-powered consortiums to unravel as much as 99 percent of the total; the job was expected to be finished by 2003, but it should be done well before then.
Being able to read the book is only the first step. We then have to be able to understand its meaning. That will take considerably longer. But the potential advantages are breathtaking.