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Assessing the Human Genome Project: Effects on world agriculture

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Abstract

The Human Genome Project is the attempt to sequence the complement of human DNA. Its ultimate purpose is to understand and control human genetics. The social and ethical concerns raised by this attempt have been much debated, especially fears concerning human genetic engineering and eugenics. An almost completely neglected aspect of the genome project's potential effects is its impact on world agriculture. The Human Genome Project will provide source information to transform commercially and therapeutically valuable segments of the human genetic code into agricultural products using the newly extant technologies of gene farming. This application of developing genomic technologies has at least two foreseeable effects: 1) Transforming global agricultural markets and ecologies, raising possibilities of novel forms of neocolonialism and the further destruction of genetic diversity; and 2) transforming world health and society through new modes of pharmaceutical production and the unregulated expansion of medical access to novel and traditional therapeutics.

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Authors
  1. M. S. Lesney
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  2. V. B. Smocovitis
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Additional information

Mark Lesney received his Ph. D. in plant pathology and has worked as an assistant professor of biotechnology research at the University of Florida. He is currently affiliated with the program in History of Science at the University of Florida, where he is studying the emergence of biotechnology research.

Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis is currently Assistant Professor in History of Science at the University of Florida. Her primary background is in plant sciences and ecology and evolutionary biology. Her research includes the history of the plant sciences and evolutionary biology.

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Lesney, M.S., Smocovitis, V.B. Assessing the Human Genome Project: Effects on world agriculture. Agric Hum Values 11, 10–18 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01534444

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