GB + USA verfolgen 1 Million Menschen
(New Scientist, 20.1.06) YOU might donate blood to help save someone's life. But would you donate your blood, your DNA, and your most intimate medical secrets on a promise that it may help save a life years from now?
Half a million people will be expected to do just that in the coming months, with another half a million people to follow, as two huge medical research projects get under way in the UK and US. The British project, called Biobank, is due to start within weeks, after five years of preparation. The American project, announced in 2004 by the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, is still at the planning stage.
Both of the projects aim to revolutionise medical research by gathering information that will allow scientists to study in unprecedented depth how our genes and environment interact over the years to cause disease. That could one day lead to new treatments for disorders such as cancer, heart disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis. But the projects are not without their critics, who say they could produce misleading results and raise fundamental questions about who should own our medical details and have access to them. These details not only document our medical past, but might also reveal which medical conditions we and our relatives are likely to suffer from in the future.
(...) In both studies, volunteers will be required to give open-ended consent for their records and samples to be used in any study, regardless of what it is researching. So, for example, if Biobank's ethics board approves, an individual's medical details might one day be used to study controversial areas of research, such as the genetics of antisocial behaviour or intelligence, despite each volunteer not being aware in advance that this may happen. (...)
Die Website von BioBank:
The project will follow the health of 500,000 volunteers for up to 30 years, collecting information on environmental and lifestyle factors and linking these to medical records and biological samples. The samples will be stored so that they can be used for biochemical and genetic analysis in the future.
UK Biobank is a long-term project aimed at building a comprehensive resource for medical researchers. The full project will get underway in 2006, when it will begin to gather information on the health and lifestyle of 500,000 volunteers aged between 40 and 69.
Following consent, each participant will be asked to donate a blood and urine sample and complete a confidential lifestyle questionnaire. Over the next 20 to 30 years UK Biobank will allow fully approved researchers to use these resources to study the progression of illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. From this they hope to develop new and better ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating such problems.
Half a million people will be expected to do just that in the coming months, with another half a million people to follow, as two huge medical research projects get under way in the UK and US. The British project, called Biobank, is due to start within weeks, after five years of preparation. The American project, announced in 2004 by the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, is still at the planning stage.
Both of the projects aim to revolutionise medical research by gathering information that will allow scientists to study in unprecedented depth how our genes and environment interact over the years to cause disease. That could one day lead to new treatments for disorders such as cancer, heart disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis. But the projects are not without their critics, who say they could produce misleading results and raise fundamental questions about who should own our medical details and have access to them. These details not only document our medical past, but might also reveal which medical conditions we and our relatives are likely to suffer from in the future.
(...) In both studies, volunteers will be required to give open-ended consent for their records and samples to be used in any study, regardless of what it is researching. So, for example, if Biobank's ethics board approves, an individual's medical details might one day be used to study controversial areas of research, such as the genetics of antisocial behaviour or intelligence, despite each volunteer not being aware in advance that this may happen. (...)
Die Website von BioBank:
The project will follow the health of 500,000 volunteers for up to 30 years, collecting information on environmental and lifestyle factors and linking these to medical records and biological samples. The samples will be stored so that they can be used for biochemical and genetic analysis in the future.
UK Biobank is a long-term project aimed at building a comprehensive resource for medical researchers. The full project will get underway in 2006, when it will begin to gather information on the health and lifestyle of 500,000 volunteers aged between 40 and 69.
Following consent, each participant will be asked to donate a blood and urine sample and complete a confidential lifestyle questionnaire. Over the next 20 to 30 years UK Biobank will allow fully approved researchers to use these resources to study the progression of illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. From this they hope to develop new and better ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating such problems.
patpatpat - 20. Jan, 20:32
