C.S. Lewis, the talented author of the Narnia series, has a
powerful opinion about pride. He says
that “Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or
contentment, or even common sense.” Personally, I don’t know if I have ever
heard pride summed up so accurately.
Venter was a proud, egotistical, and cocksure man. Nobody could ever say that Craig was not
brilliant, but in my opinion, his brilliance could be blamed for his
downfall.
Craig Venter lost the “Genome War”. He spent millions upon millions of dollars to
outdo his past associates connected to the Human Genome Project. Pride and ego set Venter on a path of futile
actions. Venter spent years and money to untangle the mystery of the human genome
first and patent it privately. Venter
starting his own project was just a waste of time and resources. Had Venter
just allowed the Human Genome Project to continue, the knowledge would have
become public and could have been used by the various pharmaceutical companies
and research groups that Venter planned on supplying himself.
In my opinion, Venter violated the shear principles of what
is ethical. Should the human genome have
been decoded for monetary gain or for academic gain? I say academic gain. The human genome belongs
to the world and because it is not invented or man-made, I don’t believe it
should be patented. Patenting and highly regulating the human genome will only
lead to delays in science and discoveries.
By allowing the information to be public, nobody is denied the rights to
the information that makes all of us.
In a perfect world, had Venter wanted to continue his
research, Venter and the Human Genome Project would have joined forces and sequenced
the genome in a timelier fashion. Egos wouldn’t
have been hurt, and science would have been advanced at a far superior
rate. Instead, this turned into an emotionally
and intellectually bloody war with no true winner in the end.
References:
http://www.genome.gov/19016590 -
National Human Genome Research Institute
Shreeve, James. The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and save
the World. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Print.
I agree with you in the sense that if Venter and Collins had joined their respective forces the genome could have been sequenced for less money in a shorter amount of time. However, I don't think you can fault scientists for wanting to take credit for their discoveries. Intellectual property was the main source of contention between many of the scientists involved. Who wouldn't want to be the one remembered for sequencing the human genome, the code of life? They certainly would have worked faster together but that wouldn't have eliminated the competition.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you in the fact that scientists can and should take credit for their discoveries. I did not mean that they shouldn't take credit, however, I was saying that they should not be able to patent the human genome. Thank you for pointing that out! I never realized how poor I worded that section.
DeleteGreat post! I agree with your point about not patenting the human genome; who's really is it to own? We, as a human race, share it and all of its information. But, as a member of the scientific field, I also see their side in wanting to patent it. They put in years and years of work, uncovering key information about Homo Sapiens, don't they deserve a little pay off?
ReplyDeleteI also think that Venter acted as a catalyst and pushed the HGP to pick up their pace, as they were quickly falling behind on their schedule. Without him interjecting himself, I honestly question if the HGP would have finished when they did.
I really like your thought of Venter acting as a catalyst. You are correct in stating that the Human Genome Project picked up their pace and in that manner, it is obvious that Venter acted as a catalyst. There is just something in me that really held something against hime for his attitude so I was most likely very biased again Venter. I love your comment by the way! Very well written and thought out!
DeleteI disagree with the prospect that ego was the only thing holding Craig Venter back, and that ego is inherently "unethical". Craig Venter lost because Celera just was not fast enough to catch up to the HGP. I don't think that his ego really set the project back, it just didn't help push forward. Also, the fact that Venter and the public HGP did not join forces should not be put entirely on Venter. Francis Collins was very weary of Venter and had Venter still been on his team, I don't think that the subsequent bickering would have benefited anyone. In fact, it might have even set the project back. So while I do agree that the public and private labs should have been working together, Venter's ego was not necessarily the problem.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very fair assessment. I do agree that it is very possible that bickering could have held them back even once they joined sides. I do agree that it was not just Venter who was at fault, however, I just felt that Venter's attitude was bad enough that he had a large effect on the appearance of the project if nothing else. Truthfully, I was being too hard on Venter. He is a brilliant man who made brilliant discoveries. Nobody can take that away from him and I do admit, science owes Venter many thanks.
DeleteI am actually going to comment on my own blog with a few clarifications and thoughts to amend some of the things that I did not tie up cleanly. I do agree that a scientist has the right to take credit of his discoveries, however, in the case of the human genome, I believe the credit should have been academic and not economic. I failed to clarify what I meant earlier.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, I respect Ventor's discoveries and his work. His shotgunning methods were absolutely amazing and brilliant. What rubbed me the wrong way was the entire feel of the book. All the anger and bad vibes around something so fascinating truthfully turned me off from the book. I love science and discoveries but I don't love drama, and I think that that drama is what put such a bad taste in my mouth about Venter.
When I say the word "futile", I don't mean that the work was worthless and that the discoveries won't have impact for years to come. When I say futile, I am speaking of the millions used and time spent to do something twice. In my opinion, why do something twice when you could do it together once. I come from such a strong background of teamwork and working together to do something right the first time.
I really did enjoy the information that this book shared. I was saddened by the drama but loved the science.
See, I am kind of on the opposite side here. Yes, Venter is an egotistical man who should have put some of it aside when entering the academic world, however I do think his contribution truly did benefit the genome. I agree with you where patents should be left out, especially on something as important and useful as the genome, however were the entrepreneur side of Venter not brought in, this method may or may not have been discovered as early as it had. It may have taken even longer for the HGP to complete as well. Venter and his associates definitely catalyzed the completed sequencing of the human genome, his egotistical side and all. I believe you could even contribute the decreasing prices of genome sequencing to Venter's work to, in a way. So while his demeanor might not have been appropriate for the scientific world, I truly do believe his intentions were there and that he did benefit the community with his innovations.
ReplyDelete