Posted by Jost on September 29, 2006, at 22:36:03
In reply to genetics of schizophrenia, posted by alexandra_k on September 26, 2006, at 20:45:15
Maybe someone eles noted this, but the Decode project was stopped dead in its tracks in 2004 because of ethics objections from other scientists.
Questions especially about anonymity--but probably also motivated by competitors, or moral objections to the use of the information for industry (or business). Anonimity was protected in the database--but some objected that the original entry would be from books where identity would be recorded Others objected that since the population of Iceland is small (it was around 245,000, I think), identities could be inferred. Don't know--sounds a bit farfetched, but I guess is possible for particularly unusual cases involving prominent people
Seems a shame in many ways-- the project sounds like an amazing attempt to begin an highly interesting and useful analysis of one of the most complete genaeological references available and could have led to remarkable breakthroughs, much more quickly.
But I may not fully appreciate the ethical problems. It seems there was a lot of conflict about it, after (competing?) scientists raised their voices.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:689461
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060927/msgs/690374.html