ABSTRACT
On Monday, June 27, 2000 the American president and the prime minister of the United Kingdom announced that the (almost-97%) complete sequence of the approximately 3.2 billion bases that make up the human genome had been ascertained with 99.9% accuracy.1 If written out in book form, this would fill some 270 telephone directory-sized volumes. They thought this was not going to happen until 2003, but it became available in 2000. This time contraction resulted from the construction of new, automated, computercontrolled sequencers and a different technique to create and reconstruct the pieces of the genetic jigsaw. The waves of ethical issues that this event unleashed wash over us yet. Indeed, they will continue to do so until we become comfortable with the many different consequences that result from this major scientific discovery; and this could take a century or two. One of the primary functions of this writing is to anticipate some of these sequellae and to offer ways in which they can be introduced into society with the minimum of discomfort and unease.
