Discoverer Backs DNA Databanks

There are concerns also about the quality of the data. Dr. James P. Evans, UNC-CH director for Genetics Cancer Services, told legislators that a databank filled only with DNA from inmates would be skewed. "If North Carolina does this right, it could be a leader and a great example of how to har...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inKnight Ridder Tribune Business News p. 1
Format Newsletter
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington Tribune Content Agency LLC 15.05.2003
Subjects
Biotechnology industry
Cancer
Cloning
Legislators
Planetariums
Science
Secondary school students
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Summary:There are concerns also about the quality of the data. Dr. James P. Evans, UNC-CH director for Genetics Cancer Services, told legislators that a databank filled only with DNA from inmates would be skewed. "If North Carolina does this right, it could be a leader and a great example of how to harness the burgeoning field of genetics for the general good," Evans said before the meeting. "If we do it wrong, it could be very ugly." Although a man dogged through the decades by his sometimes- outlandish off-the-cuff remarks, Watson is not one to shy away from controversies over the use of DNA. He is miffed, he says, that laws do not yet prevent genetic discrimination with information that DNA sequencing provides. But he's all for databanks designed to further scientific research. That answer is the subject of the 33-minute production of "DNA: The Secret of Life," a collaboration that UNC-CH helped fund that will be distributed worldwide to other museums and science centers by the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. Watson likes the project, and Holden Thorp, the Morehead center director and a chemist, is proud to have him on board.