[EN] Free access to the human genome: initial explanations

On 14 March 2000, in a joint statement, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton called on scientists worldwide to place in the public domain all information relating to the decoding of the human genome, which is currently underway.

The joint statement issued in London recalls that ‘the basic data on the human genome, including the sequencing of the entire human DNA genome and its variations, should be freely available to scientists worldwide so that research can be fully pursued.’ This is not the case, since in order to obtain the information obtained by private companies, it is necessary to pay an annual subscription, unlike discoveries made by the public sector, which are freely available on the Internet.

The statement points out that decoding the human genetic identity card should make it possible to ‘reduce the burden of disease, improve global health and the quality of life for all humanity’. A first draft of the decoding of 100,000 genes should be available this year and the entire detailed sequencing completed in 2003.