Data generated by the Human Genome Project are expected to have a powerful impact on how we view human biodiversity. Given the history of past biomedical and quasi-genetic abuse inflicted upon Americans of African descent, it is significant that African-Americans have been at the forefront of calls for a variation-inclusive Human Genome Project database and for full participation in all aspects of the project. As articulated in the 1994 Manifesto on Genomic Studies among African-Americans, historically and demographically representative genomic sampling is directly linked to the potential for social justice and equal access to the project's anticipated value. Now, as the Human Genome Project turns its attention to the collection and evaluation of human sequence variation, it is important to concurrently develop research strategies that foster inclusion and collaboration and produce benefits that are accessible to all who have paid for the project's success.
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Extremely well funded by the American Congress, the HGP is constructing genetic and physical maps of the human genome, determining the sequence of human DNA, and identifying the complete set of human genes (as outlined in M. S. Guyer and F. S. Collins, “How is the Human Genome Project Doing, and What Have We Learned So Far?,”Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America92 (1995): 10841-10848.) The HGP has been greatly facilitated by important and on-going technological advances that make the identification and assessment of genes more rapid. In so doing, the HGP is genetically defining the human being, at least North Atlantic European humans, and setting a model molecular template for our species that promises to have wide implications for all humans.
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