U.S. and Britain to make Human Genome Project results public

WASHINGTON-- President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have agreed that all discoveries from the Human Genome Project will be made available to the global scientific community in order to assist health research.

The Human Genome Project is an international scientific effort to map and sequence the 3 billion "letters" and to locate and identify the roughly 100,000 genes that make up a person's genetic code.

The United States and the United Kingdom are the leading partners in the program, which expects to complete the first draft of its initial report late this year.

The two countries have agreed to a joint statement to be released Tuesday in both the United States and Britain, applauding researchers who have already made their human genome data available and calling on all researchers to follow their lead.

Treatments could match individual genetic code

The project could drastically effect the practice of medicine. Doctors would have the ability to custom tailor treatments to patients' genetic code.

The two leaders are expected to say unencumbered access to such data will allow researchers of medicine and human health care to better understand the human biology and fight disease.

The Clinton administration has requested a total of $448 million in federal funds for the fiscal year 2001 to fund the Human Genome Project.

If Congress approves, that would bring the U.S. contribution to the fund to just under $3 billion since the project's inception in 1993.

The president is to make the announcement Tuesday afternoon at the White House.

U.S. investment to reach $3 billion

The Clinton administration has requested a total of $448 million in federal funds for the fiscal year 2001 to fund the Human Genome Project.

If Congress approves, that would bring the U.S. contribution to the fund to just under $3 billion since the project's inception in 1993.

The president is to make the announcement Tuesday afternoon at the White House.