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Steven Pete can put his hand on a hot stove or step on a piece of glass and not feel a thing, all because of a quirk in his genes. Only a few dozen people in the world share Pete's congenital insensitivity to pain. Drug companies see riches in his rare mutation. They also have their eye on people like Timothy Dreyer, 25, who has bones so dense he could walk away from accidents that would leave others with broken limbs. About 100 people have sclerosteosis, Dreyer's condition.
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Drugmakers are also investing in acquisitions and partnerships to get their hands on genetic information that could lead to more drugs. Amgen bought an Icelandic biotechnology company, DeCode Genetics, for $415 million in 2012, to acquire its massive database on more than half of Iceland's adult population. Genentech is collaborating with Silicon Valley startup 23andMe, which has sold its $99 DNA spit kits to 1 million consumers who want to find out more about their health and family history—more than 80 percent have agreed to have their data used for research. The Genentech partnership will study the genetic underpinnings of Parkinson's disease. And Regeneron has signed a deal with Pennsylvania's Geisinger Health System to sequence the genes of more than 100,000 volunteers.
Tough luck for the Icelanders who submitted their DNA altruistically.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday July 24 2015, @06:27PM
And secretly, I think that maybe might possibly be a good thing.
Eugenics was bad because it was denying people their natural right to reproduce to enforce poorly understood standards. We can't repeat that human rights violating mistake. Genetic engineering puts the power not in the hands of committees, but individuals seeking to exercise that right.
There's still giant ethical pitfalls that I'm not sure I have to foresight to interpret. And maybe no one does. Certainly, I don't want to see a human genetic monoculture, like a field of genetically engineered wheat. And I certainly don't want engineering being practiced on poorly researched genes(or epigenetic material). And I don't want it to be the exclusive domain of the super-rich. But none of those problems recall the absolute terror of eugenics boards.
But part of me wonders "Why can't parents guarantee their children won't have down's syndrome?"
(Score: 3, Touché) by curunir_wolf on Friday July 24 2015, @08:18PM
Genetic engineering puts the power not in the hands of committees, but individuals seeking to exercise that right.
You really think so? Because it hasn't worked out that way for GMO plants or animals.
I am a crackpot
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by ikanreed on Friday July 24 2015, @08:59PM
Do you post not crazy things?
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by curunir_wolf on Saturday July 25 2015, @03:24PM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 25 2015, @07:44PM
Not saying you're wrong, but as biotechnology gets cheaper and easier it is becoming more accessible to individuals, small companies, "hackerspaces", etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glowing_Plant_project [wikipedia.org]
Real Vegan Cheese [soylentnews.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIYbio [wikipedia.org]
https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/ [hackerspaces.org]
The rise of crowdfunding websites has helped too.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Saturday July 25 2015, @11:26PM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 24 2015, @09:32PM
"Why can't parents guarantee their children won't have down's syndrome?"
They refuse to abort?
The same technology you'd use to detect whether the child needs treatment long before the child is born is the same technology you can use to detect whether the child should be aborted or not.