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The human genome project completion announcement by Bill Clinton

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<div style="margin: auto 0cm">PRESIDENT CLINTON ANNOUNCES THE COMPLETION OF THE FIRST SURVEY OF THE ENTIRE HUMAN GENOME Hails Public and Private Efforts Leading to This Historic Achievement </div>
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<pre>                    THE WHITE HOUSE</pre>
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<pre>               Office of the Press Secretary</pre>
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For Immediate Release                                       June 25, 2000</pre>
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<pre>          PRESIDENT CLINTON ANNOUNCES THE COMPLETION OF THE FIRST</pre>
<pre>                     SURVEY OF THE ENTIRE HUMAN GENOME</pre>
<pre>   Hails Public and Private Efforts Leading to This Historic Achievement</pre>
<pre>                               June 26, 2000</pre>
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<pre>Today, at a historic White House event with British Prime Minister Tony</pre>
<pre>Blair, President Clinton announced that the international Human Genome</pre>
<pre>Project and Celera Genomics Corporation have both completed an initial</pre>
<pre>sequencing of the human genome -- the genetic blueprint for human beings.</pre>
<pre>He congratulated the scientists working in both the public and private</pre>
<pre>sectors on this landmark achievement, which promises to lead to a new era</pre>
<pre>of molecular medicine, an era that will bring new ways to prevent,</pre>
<pre>diagnose, treat and cure disease. The President pledged to continue and</pre>
<pre>accelerate the United States' commitment to helping translate this</pre>
<pre>blueprint into novel healthcare strategies and therapies. He will</pre>
<pre>underscore that this genetic information must never be used to stigmatize</pre>
<pre>or discriminate against any individual or group. Our scientific advances</pre>
<pre>must always incorporate our most cherished values, and the privacy of this</pre>
<pre>new information must be protected.</pre>
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<pre>DECODING THE HUMAN GENOME WILL LEAD TO NEW WAYS TO PREVENT, DIAGNOSE,</pre>
<pre>TREAT, AND CURE DISEASE. Alterations in our genes are responsible for an</pre>
<pre>estimated 5000 clearly hereditary diseases, such as Huntington's disease,</pre>
<pre>cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia, and influence the development of</pre>
<pre>thousands of other diseases. Before the advent of the Human Genome</pre>
<pre>Project, a joint project of HHS, DOE, and international partners in the</pre>
<pre>United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, China, connecting a gene with a</pre>
<pre>disease was a slow, arduous, painstaking, and frequently imprecise process.</pre>
<pre>Today, genes are discovered and described within days. For example, in</pre>
<pre>1989, scientists found the gene for cystic fibrosis after a 9-year search;</pre>
<pre>eight years later, largely because of the coordinated efforts of the Human</pre>
<pre>Genome Project, a gene for Parkinson's disease was mapped in only 9 days.</pre>
<pre>Now, scientists will be able to use the working draft of the human genome</pre>
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<pre>* Alert patients that they are at risk for certain diseases. Once</pre>
<pre>scientists discover which DNA sequence changes in a gene can cause disease,</pre>
<pre>healthy people can be tested to see whether they risk developing conditions</pre>
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<pre>such as diabetes or prostate cancer later in life. In many cases, this</pre>
<pre>advance warning can be a cue to start a vigilant screening program, to take</pre>
<pre>preventive medicines, or to make diet or lifestyle changes that may prevent</pre>
<pre>the disease.</pre>
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<pre>* Reliably predict the course of disease. Diagnosing ailments more</pre>
<pre>precisely will lead to more reliable predictions about the course of a</pre>
<pre>disease. For example, a genetic fingerprint will allow doctors treating</pre>
<pre>prostate cancer to predict how aggressive a tumor will be. New genetic</pre>
<pre>information will help patients and doctors weigh the risks and benefits of</pre>
<pre>different treatments.</pre>
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<pre>* Precisely diagnose disease and ensure the most effective treatment is</pre>
<pre>used. Genetic analysis allows us to classify diseases, such as colon</pre>
<pre>cancer and skin cancer, into more defined categories. These improved</pre>
<pre>classifications will eventually allow scientists to tailor drugs for</pre>
<pre>patients whose individual response can be predicted by genetic</pre>
<pre>fingerprinting. For example, cancer patients facing chemotherapy could</pre>
<pre>receive a genetic fingerprint of their tumor that would predict which</pre>
<pre>chemotherapy choices are most likely to be effective, leading to fewer side</pre>
<pre>effects from the treatment and improved prognoses.</pre>
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<pre>* Developing new treatments at the molecular level.   Drug design guided by</pre>
<pre>an understanding of how genes work and knowledge of exactly what happens at</pre>
<pre>the molecular level to cause disease, will lead to more effective</pre>
<pre>therapies. In many cases, rather than trying to replace a gene, it may be</pre>
<pre>more effective and simpler to replace a defective gene's protein product.</pre>
<pre>Alternatively, it may be possible to administer a small molecule that would</pre>
<pre>interact with the protein to change its behavior. This is the strategy</pre>
<pre>behind a drug in development for chronic myelogenous leukemia, which</pre>
<pre>targets the genetic flaw causing the disease. It attaches to the abnormal</pre>
<pre>protein caused by the genetic flaw and blocks its activity. In preliminary</pre>
<pre>tests, blood counts returned to normal in all patients treated with the</pre>
<pre>drug.</pre>
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<pre>TODAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT REPRESENTS THE STARTING POINT FOR A NEW ERA OF GENETIC</pre>
<pre>MEDICINE. The sequence represents only the first step in the full decoding</pre>
<pre>of the genome, because most of the individual genes and their specific</pre>
<pre>functions must still be deciphered and understood. This research has</pre>
<pre>begun, and already, tens of thousands of genes have been identified,</pre>
<pre>including some related to deafness, kidney disease, breast cancer,</pre>
<pre>hereditary skeletal disorders, hemorrhagic stroke and diabetes, thus</pre>
<pre>advancing the work of researchers worldwide at a rate that would have</pre>
<pre>impossible without these data. The Human Genome Project, which completed</pre>
<pre>its version of the working draft two years ahead of schedule and under</pre>
<pre>budget, will continue its longstanding practice of making all of its</pre>
<pre>sequencing data available to public and privately funded researchers</pre>
<pre>worldwide at no cost. Celera Genomics, which makes its sequencing data</pre>
<pre>available by subscription, will also make its version of the consensus</pre>
<pre>human genome sequence available to non-subscribers upon publication.</pre>
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<pre>PRESIDENT CLINTON PLEDGES STRONG SUPPORT FOR GENETIC RESEARCH BY BOTH THE</pre>
<pre>PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS. President Clinton reiterated the commitment of</pre>
<pre>the United States to robust Federal support for basic scientific research</pre>
<pre>facilitating medical application of the science. President Clinton also</pre>
<pre>stated his support for a strong structure to review the medical, ethical</pre>
<pre>and other issues presented by the expected new power of genetic medicine,</pre>
<pre>building on the multi-million dollar investment the Human Genome Project</pre>
<pre>already makes in research on the social, ethical and legal implications of</pre>
<pre>this work. He recognized that research and development by biotechnology</pre>
<pre>companies will be key to the translation of human genome sequence data into</pre>
<pre>useful, new healthcare products and pledged to strengthen a business</pre>
<pre>environment that will spur research and development in this vital sector.</pre>
<pre>The President also reaffirmed his support for patenting genetic discoveries</pre>
<pre>that have substantial and credible uses. By protecting and rewarding</pre>
<pre>investment in research, consistent with current law, this policy of</pre>
<pre>intellectual property protection will promote rapid conversion of basic</pre>
<pre>knowledge into useful applications, while at the same time allowing a</pre>
<pre>maximum free flow of basic scientific information.</pre>
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<pre>TODAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT BUILDS ON THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION'S STRONG</pre>
<pre>COMMITMENT TO PROTECTING PRIVATE GENETIC INFORMATION. Since 1997, the</pre>
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<pre>President and Vice President have called for legislation that will</pre>
<pre>guarantee that Americans who are self-employed or otherwise buy health</pre>
<pre>insurance themselves will not lose or be denied that health insurance</pre>
<pre>because of their genetic makeup. Last winter, President Clinton signed an</pre>
<pre>executive order that prohibits every civilian Federal Department and agency</pre>
<pre>from using genetic information in any hiring or promotion action. This</pre>
<pre>historic action prevented critical information from genetic tests used to</pre>
<pre>help predict, prevent, and treat diseases, from being used against Federal</pre>
<pre>employees. In addition, President Clinton has endorsed the Genetic</pre>
<pre>Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance and Employment Act of 1999,</pre>
<pre>introduced by Senator Daschle and Congresswoman Slaughter, that will extend</pre>
<pre>these employment protections to the private sector and finish the job of</pre>
<pre>helping to extend protections to individuals purchasing health insurance,</pre>
<pre>begun with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.</pre>
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<div>Document Use and Credits 
Publications and webpages on this site were created by the U.S. Department of Energy Genome Program's <a href="http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/mission.shtml">Biological and Environmental Research Information System (BERIS)</a>. Permission to use these documents is not needed, but please credit the U.S. Department of Energy Genome Programs and provide the website http://genomics.energy.gov. All other materials were provided by third parties and not created by the U.S. Department of Energy. You must contact the person listed in the citation before using those documents.</div>
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