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Dr. J. Craig Venter Ph.D.


Self Description

Third-Party Descriptions

May 2010: 'But at least three trends are stoking concern among safety advocates. In the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks, the federal government stepped up research involving biowarfare threats, like anthrax, Ebola and many other of the world’s deadliest pathogens. Another factor is that the new techniques of so-called synthetic biology allow scientists to make wholesale genetic changes in organisms rather than just changing one or two genes, potentially creating new hazards. Just this month, the genome pioneer J. Craig Venter announced the creation of a bacterial cell containing totally synthetic DNA, which Dr. Venter described as the first species “whose parent is a computer.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/business/28hazard.html

October 2009: "Companies that offer analyses of future health risks based on basic genetic tests should be more transparent about the limitations of their predictions, says genomics pioneer Craig Venter."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17939-personal-genomics-firms-must-come-clean.html

March 2008: "Yet the probabilistic nature of those results is potentially problematic, said J. Craig Venter, the geneticist who broke scientific and cultural ground last year when his eponymous Rockville research institute spelled out his entire genetic code and posted the results on a publicly accessible database, revealing to the world that he has, among other things, genetic inclinations toward wet earwax."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032402750.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Founder/Co-Founder of Celera Genomics Group Organization Mar 26, 2008
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Founder/Co-Founder of J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) Organization Mar 26, 2008

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
May 27, 2010 Safety Rules Can’t Keep Up With Biotech Industry

QUOTE: the estimated 232,000 employees in the nation’s most sophisticated biotechnology labs work amid imponderable hazards. And some critics say the modern biolab often has fewer federal safety regulations than a typical blue-collar factory.

 New York Times
Oct 07, 2009 Personal genomics firms must come clean

QUOTE: Companies that offer analyses of future health risks based on basic genetic tests should be more transparent about the limitations of their predictions, says genomics pioneer Craig Venter.

 New Scientist
Mar 25, 2008 Genetic Testing Gets Personal: Firms Sell Answers On Health, Even Love

QUOTE: This is the world of direct-to-consumer genetic testing, a peculiar mix of modern science, old-fashioned narcissism and innovative entrepreneurialism, all made possible by the government-sponsored Human Genome Project...The trend has critics warning that the market is becoming rife with hype. The field is effectively free of regulatory oversight, watchdogs note, and much of the science behind the results is still sketchy.

 Washington Post