ABSTRACT
The phrase ‘protect and preserve’1 has been employed to describe the international community’s engagement with the human genome, but in reality it is still a matter of debate as to what it is that the international community is trying to do with the human genome. It would be impossible to ‘preserve’ the genome, since it is a changing entity, one that is constantly evolving and adapting. And ‘protection’ is a malleable term when applied to the genome. First there is the question of what it is that is being protected. The second question is about the nature of the threat and the perpetrators. Third, is it the genome that needs protection or is it the human beings (in and for whom the genome exists) that are the ones who will be affected by any threats to the human genome? The current state of the debate on these issues is that we are still trying to come to grips with these fundamental issues. In this context, the spirit of the 1997 Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights – that the human genome is the common heritage of mankind (CHM) – makes a simple yet far reaching statement that all these questions should be debated and decided upon, in the interest of humanity.2
