The greatest scientific accomplishment ever is almost complete. What could be a greater accomplishment than man on the moon? Only one thing comes to mind, mapping of the human genome. The human genome is 3.2 billion letters long. Ninety-seven percent of it is useless trash. The Human Genome Project was created a little over a decade ago. With the project coming to an end researchers will be able to figure out exactly how each gene functions--and, more important, malfunctions to trigger deadly illnesses from heart disease to cancer (Time 1999).

There is a mad race to see who will finish first. A couple of companies are in the running to finish by 2003. Independently funded Celera Genomics Corp. is in first, closely followed by the Human Genome Project, which is funded by the US government, and behind the most powerful country in the world is The Sanger Centre in England.
James Watson and others started the Human Genome Project in 1988. James Watson was also the co-discover of the structure of DNA. The human instruction book was thought to take fifteen years and three billion dollars, but the project is ahead of schedule and under budget. At first people felt that we weren’t ready for the start of the Human Genome Project. The Human Genome Project started off slow, but gained much momentum after key scientist and computers were involved.

The Celera Genomics company is in the lead because Craig Venter the leading scientist of Celera. Pharmaceutical companies fund Celera Genomics Corp. The pharmaceutical companies back up Celera with funds so when Celera Genomics find genes they patent the genes. Which means the pharmaceutical companies will profit form their patents. Some say that patenting genes is wrong. If Celera finds the sequence that causes heart disease and another company wants to do research on heart disease they can’t, because Celera owns the genes and there is nothing anybody can do about it. Celera Genomics can sell the genes to the company, but it would cost the company millions of dollars for genes that aren’t Celera’s, just discovered by them.

Craig Venter is known all around the world. Although other scientists hate him he is the most famous living scientist in the world today. The reason he is hated so much is because he uses robot research gene sequencers and high-speed computers in finding the genes. Other scientists argue that some of the data is not very accurate. Others call him a cheat for lifting data made public on the government’s GenBank website at tax payers expense—and then patenting sequences culled from this data, there by locking up information originally intended to be freely available (Time 2001). Many scientists also dislike him because he heads a company that patents genes for the company’s good. Venter argues that he will release the complete genome to the world when it is done for free. Many people in the genome field don’t believe him. People are really worried because he will most likely finish before anybody else. Craig Venter will be known as the man that did somewhat of the impossible.

The Human Genome project took blood and sperm samples form anonymous donors. The project’s commercial rival, Celera Genomics, put an ad The Washington Post, and selected thirty men and women form a variety of ethnic backgrounds and used six of them. Some say Celera boss Craig Venter has also has added his DNA to the mix. They take the DNA from the volunteers and try to find the genes and then put them in the correct order. From the order they can determine what the genes will do or not do to cause a serious disease.

Sometime in the next few months we shall have a rough draft of the complete human genome. Some believe it is the greatest intellectual moment in history. The human genome contains stories of our future as well as our past. Genetic engineering has the potential to conquer cancer, grow new blood vessels in the heart, block the growth of blood vessels in tumors, create new organs from stem cells and perhaps even reset the primeval genetic coding that causes cell to age (Time 1999).

Scientists still have a long ways to go to completely finish. Knowing the code for a gene doesn’t mean you know what protein in produces in the body, or what the protein does, or how it interacts with other proteins—vital information if you want to know how the genetic code locked in our cells ends up constructing and maintaining a fully functioning human being (Time 2001). They also have the complicated task of finding out what the letters mean and what they do. If a gene has an error it causes a disease and they still have to identify what caused the error and triggered the disease. Even when they finish they will have a genome full of holes, no matter how hard sequencers try the gaps will stubbornly refuse to show their secrets. The first chromosome to be completed has about three percent that is not readable and the other chromosomes that are being found also have many holes in them. Ten percent of the genome is virtually impossible to sequence because of its respective nature, so it has been quietly omitted from all discussion of progress—even though it may contain important information (New Scientist 2000). There is also a possibility that some genes will be overlooked or skipped mistakenly. Combining results with private companies like Celera Genomics Corp can fill some gaps. The gaps in one company’s research might not be gaps in another’s. Nobody knows what the gaps have in them, which are why they can never be overlooked.

If we ever do figure out the whole sequence, will humans be better off? Some say that it will cause a genetic underclass. Some countries that are poor and can’t afford screenings for diseases will become the underclass; rich countries will obviously have advantages. The insurance companies will also want to know what your genes have in store for you, this can also affect you chances of getting life insurance. This can cause higher insurance for everyone. This gene stuff can affect where you can and can’t get a job. For example if you are going to live longer a company will want you to work for them, on the other hand if you are going to get some kind of genetic disease the company will not want you. If that isn’t enough, parents who are going to have a baby can chose which traits they want the baby to have and which they don’t. If the people in the rich countries do this to their babies there will be two different human races. One race would be very intelligent and be excellent leaders, while the other humans will be normal and very under classed. We really don’t know what will happen in the future.

How do they sequence the genome? Well they take a short piece of a chromosome and make thousands of incomplete copies of it. They attach a fluorescent label to one end of it, using different colors for different letters. The fragments are assorted according to size. Then the short sequences are strung together to give the chromosome’s sequence. Many companies use sequencing machines to accelerate the process. Celera Genomics uses a technique called “shotgun”. Venter is hated for his use of this method. Instead of sequencing adjacent segments of chromosomes, an entire genome is chopped into little pieces and sequenced. Then, like a puzzle, computers that look for overlapping fragments put the random bits together. The Human Genome Project scientists use another type of computer to find the sequences. Each machine prepares DNA samples, runs them through electrophoresis gels, and reads off the results into a database, only requiring the help of a human once every 24 hours (New Scientist 1999). The computers have really helped this project arrive to what it is now. Without these computers it would take four hundred times longer to get to where it is now, almost complete.

The reason for the Human Genome Project was to find all the genes that are killing innocent people, but it has turned into much more, patenting. Patenting genes is a horrible idea, with patenting it limits the research another company can do. Celera Genomics Corp. has patented many genes and sequences, they have patented sequences using the governments free website to find the genes and put them in sequences so they may patent the sequences. My genes are my genes not Celera Genomics, by patenting they own your genes and if you want another company to do research on you own DNA you have to buy it from Celera Genomics Corp. The government can’t allow for this to go on, that is why it is a race to see who will finish first, if Celera does that could mean that they own the entire human genome. The Human Genome Project is well behind Celera and it is already predicted that Celera Genomics Corp. will have the genome. Craig Venter has said that he will release the genome to the world, but many do not believe. The genome was supposed to be used to help adults and children with their suffering, the only thing it is doing right now is making money for the pharmaceutical companies that are funded by Celera. No matter what happens people are still keeping their eye on the Human Genome Project to see if they some how can pull off the impossible. June 26, 2000 the miracle finally came true when Craig Venter agreed to meet with the Human Genome Project’s unofficial head scientist, Francis Collins. The request for them to meet was made by many including President Clinton. June 26 is when they announced that they have finished mapping the human genome. There is still much left in mapping but most is done. The announcement made the two scientists seem equal, but it is clearly know that Venter is far ahead of Collins. They might have met a couple of times but both hate each other. They are still fighting to see whose genome is more complete, more accurate, and more useful.

In conclusion, genes can tell our future. I as a human being am very excited to see what this scientific accomplishment will bring to the table of survival. I fell that this will help us and hurt us in many ways. Scientists still have along way to go till they can find out if a certain person has a certain genetic disease. The estimated time for this to happen is close to 2010. In my mind and in many others this achievement is one of the greatest things to happen to man. We do not know if this major discover can really help man or destroy it. June 26, 2000 can go down in history has one of the greatest days of mankind or one of the worst days. It is too early to say if Craig Venter and Francis Collins will become the most famous scientists ever, but one thing is certain the things they have done will be remembered by most and forgotten by few. This is mankind’s most important data versus the utilization of what may also be its most valuable. The question is how will we use it?