Estonians give green light to gene bank

Nature 11 January 2001

URL: http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v409/n6817/full/409126a0_fs.html

Date accessed: 15 January 2001

[TALLINN ] The Estonian parliament last week approved, by a large majority, the Human Gene Research Act. This legislation will regulate the creation, maintenance and use of a national gene bank in Estonia.

In accordance with normal ethical constraints, data in the gene bank will be correlated with health data and will be used to help locate genes that are associated with complex diseases.

The act also gives the go-ahead for the creation of a foundation to fund the project, called the Estonian Genome Project, to the tune of US$150 million during the next five years. The government will provide 20% of costs, but the rest must be found from private investors.

Category: 52. Genetic Banks and Databases