The new genetics

Book · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:6376432

Jaroff, L

Knowing the location and make-up of each of the 50,000 to 100,000 human genes will revolutionize the practice of medicine. This knowledge will lead to tailor-made therapies not only for treating disease but also for preventing it - in short, to a new concept of patient care. The Human Genome Project, a 15-year, $3 billion quest to determine the nucleotide sequence of the entire human genome, will make this possible. In The New Genetics, Leon Jaroff recounts the long path of discovery thatt has led to this huge new scientific venture - from the theory of heredity put forth by Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago to the current attempts to treat adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency and malignant melanoma via gene therapy. Against this background, the geneticists, molecular biologists, clinicians, and ethicists involved in the Human Genome Project describe their work and how it will provide physicians with ever more precise and effective tools to treat human disease. Jaroff also reveals the other, more problematic side of the story. Patients with an undesirable genetic profile may be subject to discrimination by private insurers. Physicians who fail to recommend genetic screening may find themselves victims of malpractice or wrongful-life suits. Indeed, these issues and others have already begun to affect physicians. The New Genetics makes it abundantly clear tha a revolution has arrived, and that physicians must be prepared to cope with the new order.

• OSTI ID: 6376432
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
DISEASES
SCREENING
THERAPY
GENETIC ENGINEERING
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
GENETICS
HUMAN CHROMOSOMES
MAPPING
DNA-CLONING
GENETIC MAPPING
HEREDITARY DISEASES
HUMAN CHROMOSOME 17
HUMAN CHROMOSOME 21
HUMAN CHROMOSOME 5
NEOPLASMS
NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES
RFLPS
BIOLOGY
BIOTECHNOLOGY
CHROMOSOMES
CLONING
DNA HYBRIDIZATION
HYBRIDIZATION
550400* - Genetics