Sequencing genome of 1000 volunteers: Why do this anonymously?

Sequencing genome of 1000 volunteers: Why do this anonymously?F I D Konotey-Ahulu 1

1) Kwegyir Aggrey Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana/Consultant Physician/Genetic Counsellor in Haemoglobinopathies, London W1G 9PF

SUMMARY

An International Consortium in January 2008 announced that it had plans to sequence the genome of 1000 volunteers throughout the world [1, 2]. The implications of this could be welcome or unwelcome, depending on how one looked at the exercise. Please read on, ponder, and come to your own conclusion. [Afr J Health Sci. 2011; 18:37-52]

Questions that need answering

Representing Africa on genetic affairs I dearly need answers to a few questions: 1. What is the definition of a volunteer in the

statement “A thousand volunteers have alreadybeen recruited from Africa, Asia, America, and Europe” [1]?

The African volunteers are the “Maasai inKinyawa, Kenya”, the “Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria”, and “Luhya in Wabuye, Kenya” [2]. Did theyreallyunderstandwhattheyvolunteeredfor?

2.Why should these volunteers not be identifiedeventhoughCraigVenterpublishedhisownentiregenome last year [3]?

3. How exactly did these African volunteers give“informed consent for their DNA to be analysed and placed in public databases” [1]? Was the informedconsentgiven in theEnglish language,orinSwahili,Maasai,Luhya,andYoruba?

Human genome diversity project (HGDP)I happen to have been the only person from BlackAfricainvitedwith24othersfromtherestoftheworldbyLakeSuperiorStateUniversity,SaultSainteMarie,MI USA to take part in the first ever internationalSymposiumontheHumanGenomeDiversityProject,HGDP[4].ThemainpurposeoftheSymposiumwastodebatefromeachindividual’sperspectiveProfessorDavidResnik’sessay“TheHumanGenomeDiversityProject:EthicalProblemsandSolutions”[5]IrepresentedBlackAfrica,emphasizingwhatworriedusAfricansabouttheproject[6].Tomyuttersurprisemore than half of the contributors (who were neither African nor African American) shared my concerns

[4] regardingwhatwas being presented as not onlyagenomicepidemiologicalbreakthroughwehaveallbeenwaiting for, but also as a tool to develop (justas Jacqui Wise put it) “new strategies for diagnosing, treating,andpreventingnewdiseases”[1]

Ethics

Theburdenofmyconcernwas,asinDavidResnik’sessay, ethical. If some wonderful genetic discoveryemerged and some researchers wanted to patent it, howwouldthe“anonymous”volunteerownerofthegene benefit from the discovery?Also, it is well toremember that genetic material is not the sole property of theowner.Children,siblings, identical twins,andotherscouldbefuriousiftheywerenotalsoaskedtobe‘associatevolunteers’becauseanindividual’sgenesare family genes.

RacismProfessors JosephAlper and JonBeckwith from theUniversity of Massachusetts, Boston and HarvardMedical School, USA articulated this concerneven better than I could have hoped to do myself[7]: “Concerns about the Human Genome Project,in some ways the parent of the Human Genome DiversityProject,havecentredonthepossibleharmtoindividualsfromtheavailabilityanddisseminationofgeneticinformationaboutthem.ControversyabouttheHumanGenomeDiversityProjectarisesbecauseofthefearthatentiregroupsofpeoplemaybeadverselyaffected” [7].

Aids in AfricaAlready, Africans feared that the galloping incidence

37 African Journal of Health Sciences Vol. 18, No. 1-2, January - June 2011

of HIV/AIDS around the Tropic of Capricorn wasdue to genetic targeting of the natives. Picturespublished from South Africa of “Children fromZevenfonteinwhere85percentofthecommunityareHIVPOSITIVE”[8]–afigurethatcannotpossiblybeexplainedbysexaloneevenifrapes(ofchildrentoo)occurredattherateofoneaminute–rangalarmbells.PertinenttooarethenotsorecentfindingsofProfessorGuisselquist and colleagues that other than sex spread of the epidemic was going on in tropical Africa [9].

The British Medical Journal announced anextraordinary article by Didier Fassin and Helen Schneider[10]withthisfrontcoverstatementinboldletters:“UnderstandingAIDSinSouthAfrica:Issuesofrace hinder public health”. Scientists of the apartheid regime had confessed to wrong doing [10]. “As has recently been shown” say Didier Fassin and Helen Schneider,“inthelastyearsofapartheidgovernmentlaboratoriesweredevelopingchemicalandbiologicalweapons (including anthrax, intended to eliminate black leaders), were researching contraceptivemethods to induce sterility in the African population, andwereallegedlyattemptingtospreadHIVthrougha network of infected prostitutes” [10], while somewhite leaders“evenpublicly rejoiced (includingonemember of parliament in 1992) over the possibleeliminationofblackpeoplebythedisease”[10].

EvenconsideringtheeffectontheSouthAfricanPresidentThaboMbekioftheoftenquotedstatementof the world retrovirus expert Professor PeterDuesbergthat“HIVisnotthecauseofAIDS”[11],andministerial pronouncements implying that having ashoweraftersexwithanHIV-Positivepatientpreventsinfection, such serious defects in understanding the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS spread in SouthAfricacannot explain the 85% HIV sero-Positivity in oneSouthAfricanregion[8].Canweexcludeaniatrogenicdimension to the phenomenal increase in the burden of AIDSinSouthAfricaandsub-SaharanAfrica?

Africans are scared stiff of Genome Research We Africans are all scared stiff. When attempts are madetoallayhisfearswithpromisesoffuturebenefitsofgeneresearch,theAfricanjoinstheancientRomansin saying: “Equo ne credite, Teucri! Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.” (Do not trust the horse,Trojans!Whateveritis,IfeartheGreeksevenwhen they bring gifts) [6]. History being so repletewith conspiracy facts [12], assertions of “conspiracy theories” hurled at complainants are seen by the Africanas“proof”ofwrongdoing.PresidentBill

Clinton’sconfessiononbehalfoftheAmericanpeopleabout theTuskegeeSyphilisExperimentConspiracyFact[13]onlyconfirmedwhattheAfricanAmericansuspected all along, but which was dismissed as ‘Conspiracy Theories’ of wrong doing against theblack man. On May 16 1997, the President of theUnitedStateshadthispublicapologytomaketotheeight remaining survivors of the Tuskegee SyphilisExperiment: “The United States Government didsomething that was wrong, deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. It was outrage to our commitment to integrityandequalityforallourcitizens.Itwasclearlyracist” [13] Professor James Bowman, the eminentblack geneticist in Chicago, sums up succinctlypeople’s reluctance to accept genetic and genomicinvestigationsas“thelegacythatwemustacceptforpastandpresentdiscriminatorypractices”[14].

Discriminatory practices

ThesepracticeshavebeenspeltoutbyProfessorFrankDukepoo,oneofthreeNativeAmericangeneticistsintheUnitedStates,whoisafull-bloodedHopi/LagunaAmericanIndian[15].InhisbrilliantcontributiontotheHGDPSymposiumreferredtoabove,FrankDukepoohad this to say: “When recombinant DNA technology becameareality,elevenoftheleadingscientistsinthenewfieldofmolecularbiologypublishedanopenletteron July 26 1974, asking their colleagues to initiatea self-imposed moratorium on conducting high-riskDNA recombinant experiments (Rifkin 1998 [Ref.16]). In theend, themoratoriumwas liftedasmoralresponsibilitywastrampledbyfinancialinterests.Willhistory repeat itself?” [15]Dukepoowent on to saythat the human genome research “might contribute to stereotyping, discrimination, and labelling” and that “nativeAmericansfeelasifthey‘arebeingresearchedtodeathbyoutsiders’”[15].Hefeels“thepotentialfor‘scientificracism’ishighandpotentiallyexplosive”.

Listed among the discriminatory practices, interestingly enoughwaswhat Dukepoo called “thesicklecelldebacle”[15],anexampleofwhichIgaverecently and which echoed his “moral responsibility (being) trampled by financial interests”. I made thesame point recently in the British Medical Journal[17].InvitedtogivetheKeynoteAddresson31May1972attheMartinLutherKingJrFoundationAwardCeremonyinPhiladelphiawhereLinusPauling(doubleNobel Laureate), Max Perutz (Nobel Laureate),Hermann Lehmann, JV Neel,A CAllison, RolandScott,JamesBowman,CharlesWhitten,Graham

African Journal of Health Sciences Vol. 18, No. 1-2, January - June 2011 38

Serjeant, and other Abnormal Haemoglobinheavyweights were being honoured together withthisAfrican, I revealed that genetic information onblack peoplewas being skewed to enableAmericanInsuranceCompaniesreapfinancialgainfromhealthyAfricanAmericanswithSickleCellTrait(someofthemOlympicGoldMedallists).BecauseofthisrevelationIwasprovidedwith4bodyguardsthroughoutmyshortstay in the city [17]. Is it far fetched to suggest that for the love ofmoney somewould highjack a perfectlysensibleprocessoflearningaboutgeneticvariability,and turn it intoamoneyspinningenterprise,even ifthat involved discriminating against native people?I expressed similar sentiments when, again, I was invitedin1985toCretetorepresentAfricanopinionat ‘The First Symposium on the Role of Recombinant DNAinGenetics’[18].

“Inferior calibre”

In the sameHGDPSymposium [4]Professor JamesBowmanofUniversityofChicagomentionednotonlythe attempts made to “associate genes with crime, particularly with respect to African Americans”, butalso“of theuseofIQasascientificweapon”todiscriminate against blacks [14]. Some scientistsare so convinced of the “inferior calibre” of blacksthat theymakepublic their opinion.NobelLaureateProfessor JamesWatson of DNA fame recently didthat only to find that, actually, his own great grandfatherwasAfrican! [19]. In reality, then, ProfessorJames Watson’s ancestor would have lived on mycontinent at the same time as my paternal great grand father‘Konotey-Adade’,andmymaternalgreatgrandfather‘PeterNyako’whowerebothbornaround1820AD(seethefamilytree,GenerationV,inhttp://www.konotey-ahulu.com/images/generation.jpg [6, 20,21]).

African and African American GeniusAs part of my African American Museum ofPhiladelphia (AAMP) Award Lecture in May lastyear [22], recognising much talent amongAfrican-Americans,Isaidtotheaudiencethattheywerejustthe tip of a huge brainberg (a term I coined) whose base is in Africa [22]. Those of us who studied in the bestuniversitiesintheworldknowthatAfricanshavecompeted intellectually with the best and come top, butitisonlythe‘raciallycolourblind’whiteprofessorwhoacknowledges this fact, as the true storybelowshows.

Different attitudes of whites towards blacksWeknowthatallwhitescientistsarenotthesameintheir approach to African affairs, least of all in medical research, and in dealing with brilliant Africans. Some white professors are racist, others are not. In the LakeSuperiorStateUniversityHGDPSymposium,Idescribed the case of one Ghanaian medical student [6]whocametopofhisUKuniversityqualifyingyearof several hundred strong from all over the world,and was promptly given the enviable House-Job of‘raciallycolour-blind’ProfessorSirMaxRosenheimFRS, later Lord Rosenheim, President of the RoyalCollegeofPhysiciansofLondon.Threeyearsearlier,another white don, who was not ‘racially colour-blind’,hadblatantlydeprivedtheGhanaianofawelldeserved reward while competing with a speciallyselectedgroupof12verybrightwhite students in apre-Clinical Special Degree Class. The Ghanaiantold only me the sad details of what happened. He simplywept,while I consoled him.My friendwenton to his Clinical Studies. Three years later, in themiddleofhisjobwithProfessorMaxRosenheim,theyoung Ghanaian doctor was called by the racist don, who confessed to him from his hospital bed about his previousdastardlyact,andbeggedhimforforgiveness[6],beforedyingtwoweekslaterfromcarcinomaofthe bronchus.

The comment I made about this incident to the HGDPSymposium,whichdeservestobekeptinmindbythepresent1000volunteersgenomesequencerswasthis:“Somesecretlybelievein‘racialsupremacy’andcouldnotbeartothinkthatablackAfricanwouldlearnEnglish as a second language, study in the language, andbeatallcomers.Idonotbelieveinevolutionofthehumanconscience,nordoIbelievethattheHGDPwouldassignsomeresearchertoscourthe1.6%oftheDNAthathumansdonotsharewiththechimpanzeefora‘consciencegene’.ButIdohopethatprobingtheentirehumangenomewillprove,ifproofwereneeded,that there is much in life (the human conscience, for oneexample)thatissimplysupra-scientific”[6]

Useful research and harmful research

From what I have said so far it could be inferredthat I was dead against sequencing the genome of 1000volunteers.Notreally.IamagainstresearcherswithNaziproclivities.ThosehavenotdiedoutwiththedemiseofAdolphHitler.Theyareadeptathigh-jackingnotonlyrespectableinstitutions,butalsosomeimportantresearchprogrammes.Somehavebeen


identified on the African continent. l call them“ScientificsonsofBelial” [6].There is sucha thingas “Murderous Science” [23]. Indeed, 40 years agoexactly, The Lancet warned of the potential of great evil that recombinant-DNAresearchwascapableof.Writing under the banner “The Biological Bomb”Lancet spoke of “public health in reverse”, and thatthere was a “biological bomb lying at the heart of the cellularnucleus,tickingustodestruction”[24].Atthesame Lancet symposium, Lord Ritchie-Calder said“Whileonegroupofscientistsisdevotingitsenergiesto prevent diseases, another is devising man-madeepidemics” [24]. The perfidious twist is when thegroup of scientists ostensibly “devoting its energiesto prevent diseases” in Africa is exactly the groupfurtively “devising man-made epidemics” [12, 24].WeAfricansarereallyscared.Weoftendonotknowwhich researchers are doing which.

Genetic characterization of CommunitiesGeneticallycharacterizeagroupofhumansconsideredundesirable by scientists with Nazi proclivitiesand thosenativescan in timebewipedout.All thatwas needed would be a clear-cut knowledge of thegenomic architecture of the people, and the rest would be recombinant-DNA technology [12, 18, 24].True,ethical hedges are in place in the ‘Sequencing Genes of1000Volunteers’project[2],butwhatisunethicalto one scientist can be ethical to another. And what is more, as Hitler directed the scientists to do what they did,politicians,administratorsandbankerscan fundscientiststoembarkonracistventuresasDidierFassinand Helen Schneider described so clearly happened in South Africa [10].

Therearescientistsandpoliticianswhohavestatedthat AIDS in Africa was a good thing “to help reduce the African population” [12]. I am also reminded of a statement I made in the Lancet which appeared to upsetpeopleinhighplaces.BBCWorldServicewasadvisedtoinvitemetotheir‘BushHouse’inLondonto explain myself. The interviewer revealed to meinprivatewhere the invitation to“CallDrKonotey-Ahulu and interview him” came from. It happenedon this wise: Professor N J White and colleagueshad written a 3-page article in The Lancet entitled“Averting a malaria disaster” in which they madethe case that to prevent drug resistance against themalaria parasite Artemissinin that was being widely used in Africa (Ghanaians imported it from Thailand and India) should be compounded with other drugs [25]–theso-calledArtemissinin-basedCombinationTherapy(ACT).

This,ProfessorNJWhiteandcolleaguesappearedtoclaimwastheonlywayto“avertamalariadisaster”intropicalAfrica[25].AsonewhowasborninAfrica,livedinAfrica,sufferedfrommalariaseveraltimesinAfrica,andworkedintropicalAfricaasaphysician,I disagreed, giving my reasons and pointing out abetterway to“rollbackmalaria”. Ievenadded this:“I suspect thatWHO head Gro Harlem Brundtlandwouldsoonerprovidefundstobuttressapublichealthapproach than a drug importing approach” [26]. Iconcluded my communication to Lancet thus (and this was why, within days of publication, a car came tocollectmetoBBCBushHousetoexplainmyself):“Butwouldavertingamalariadisasternotupset thepopulationcontrollobby?”[26].Malariacontrolleadsto increase in population. Research funds aimed at controlling malaria will militate against population control. Sowhat areweAfricans supposed to thinkwhenweseethesame‘Expert’senttousfromabroadwith huge funds to do both?

Quite clearly, then, African natives need toknowwhich of the researchers in genomics are “ontheir side” and which are not. Those “on their side”, generally speaking, tend to seek African informedopinion before embarking on a research project.ThoseindifferenttowhattheAfricanthinks,plantheirresearch programmes and come to impose them (with enormous amounts of money) on the African. Time and space do not allow me to itemise examples of this approach. There are an increasing number of brilliant Africanstrainedinthebestuniversitiesintheworld.SomeofushavebeenonWorldHealthOrganisation(WHO)ExpertAdvisoryCommitteesforyearsatbothAfrican Regional and Geneva Headquarters levels.Does anybody think our views are worth hearingbefore recruiting volunteers in African tribes forgenome sequencing?

African anthropogeneticsIfourviewsweresought(andIspeakforBlackAfrica)pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics would be lowerprioritythanotherworthwhileventures.Thereis much in African anthropogenetics that I would likegenesequencingtounravel.Quiteapartfromthesingle-nucleotidepolymorphisms(SNPs)withwhichAfrica teems, there are phenomena which could well befoundtobegenetic.Yorubavolunteersareamongthose to be sequenced. It would be interesting to see if the “mid pith arrest” phenomenon that I described in myKrobo-Dangme-GãtribeinsoutheastGhana[22,27,28]andwhichisalsofoundintheYorubatonal


language is a phono-phenotype in glossogenetics,andone thatmayhavestructuralvariantbasisat thegenomiclevel.TheYorubawordwritten‘ojo’whichhas36reproduciblewaysofbeingphonated(withoutprolongingeithervowel)means‘coward’ifphonatedexclusivelyinmid-pitchwithoutnasalization.

Mid Pitch is defined thus: On its way from high pitch to low pitch, mid pitch is the very first sound that the normal speaking human voice makes, and it is exactly 3 semi-tones below high pitch [22, 27, 28]

Pronouncedinsomeoftheother35reproducibleways (without prolonging either vowel) ‘ojo’meanssomething else entirely. My own Ghanaian Krobotribeisuniqueinhavingnumerouswordspronouncedonlywithmid pitch, a phenomenon I have come tocall“MidPitchArrest”iethevoiceisarrestedonitswaydownatexactlythatpitch.Thisveryinterestingtribal tonal linguistic situation where many words are pronounced exclusively in mid pitch reveals aphenomenonnotfoundinEnglish,andwhich,eveninAfrica, distinguishes one tribe from another [22, 27, 28].

MyentireKrobo/Dangmetribecanbesaidtohave‘perfectmidpitch’.AstheYorubawordfor‘coward’is‘ojo’,whencorrectlyphonatedinmidpitch,IsuspectthatYoruba(asIhavefoundwithKrobo/Dangme)isaMinorKeyTonallanguage.ThecloselyrelatedGãtonallanguageisinMajorKey,inmyopinion[22,27,28]

Japanese in Japanese is ‘Nihongono’ which ispronounced tonally, with low pitch ‘Ni’ an octavebelow‘ho’,and‘ngono’phonatedinmidpitch,whichitselfisexactly3semi-tonesbelow‘ho’[22,28].Checkthisoutonthepiano.IfyoustrikeGbelowmiddleCasNi,andGabovemiddleCasho,thentheEbetweenlowG and highG on the piano keyboardwill givethepitch for ngono (3 semi-tones exactlybelow thehigh pitch) to produce the only correct pronunciation of Nihongono. If Nihongono is hummed, my fellow Krobo tribes people will hear the tonal sequence of ‘E jilolo’which,inmymothertonguemeans,‘she/hehasnotyetleft’[28].

Tonality-wise, therefore, Japanese is nearerto me than English when words and sentences are hummed.Withoutprolonginganyofthe4vowelsin“Nihongono” and “E ji lolo” there are no less than1296 (one thousand two hundred and ninety-six)reproducible ways of pronouncing the tonally identical sounding Japanese word and Krobo sentence. Just one ofthe1296isthecorrectnativepronunciationofboth.Tonal Language, in any mother tongue, is uniquely identifiablebysuchremarkableacousticprecision.

To pronounce ‘E ji lolo’ in any of the other 1295tonal renderings of the 4-vowel sentencewould notbe recognised asmeaning “He/shehasnotyet left”.Has genomic sequencing any contribution to makein exploring this phenomenon? I would be interested incomparinggenestructurevariationsinmyKrobo/Dangme tribewith a Japanese tribe.But as genomesequencing becomes cheaper, it should be possible to particularise the process to other tribes with their distinctivemothertonguesofwhichtherearenolessthan5,500 inAfricaalone.Anonymitywoulddefeatthe purpose of such research.There is so much hidden gem of knowledge thatnon-nativeshavemissedinAfrica.Takeforinstance,David Crystal’s huge book “THE CAMBRIDGEENCYCLOPEDIAOFLANGUAGE”[29]wheremyrichKrobolanguageisnotmentionedevenonce,noris there found anywhere that the difference in pitch betweenhighpitchandmidpitchinKrobo/Dangme-Gãandinalmostanyotherlanguageis3semi-tones,irrespectiveofwhetheryouareachildoradult,maleorfemale.NordidIfindanywhereintheentirebookthatnormalhumanspeakingvoice(lowtohighpitch,and vice versa) spans an octave, againwhether youare a child or adult, male or female, Krobo or English, French or Japanese. Sadly,inthisimpressivebookofDavidCrystaltheonlyblackmen(fiveinall)inpicturesare,tafracher,shownstarknaked!Threeareon the leftpage facing ‘page1’, displayed to demonstrate “The cultural diversityof language” in contradistinction with a picture of beautifullycladCaucasiansbelowthe3nakedBlacks[29].Thenonpage404,weseeanother twoAfricanadults (tafracher) in their birthday suits, one of whom was shown frontally with all his (tafracher, tafracher) phallic prominence, the caption reading “Nuba (Sudan) musicians prepare for a tribal gathering”. To understand the meaning of the Ghanaian devulgarizing word “Tafracher” see BritishMedicalJournal[Ref30]but,really,whatamItomakeofsuchacontributionbyDavidCrystalto“TheCAMBRIDGEENCYCLOPEDIA TO LANGUAGE” when it is aknownfactthatatthetimetheNubianswerebuildingpyramidsinancientEgypt,theBritishhadnotbeguntobe educated by the Romans? Indeed, Ayi Kwei Armah, the celebrated Ghanaian author, an expert on ancient Egyptian writing [31] has all but demonstrated in recentyearshowourpastisrootedinancientMizraim(Egypt).Pitythereisnowayofgatheringinformationfrom the Hieroglyphics Ayi Kwei Armah has mastered thata3semi-tonegapexistedbetweenhighandmid-


pitch, and whether certain words were exclusivelyassignedtomidpitchasinKrobo/Dangme.

Tonal Linguistics and GenomicsThere is much in African Tonal Linguistics and Anthropogenetics that has not been uncovered byforeign experts. As the present genome sequencers havealreadygotYorubavolunteers,theycould,Ifeel,lookcarefullyatthemusic/speechareasofthegenomeof Japanese andYoruba natives, not tomention theKenyantribeslistedintheresearch.IhavenotlistenedtotheMaasaiorLuhyiaspeak,buthavingheardKikuyufriendsphonatecertainwords,IthinktheKikuyuwordforGODispronouncedinmidpitch.Ineedtostudyit further. Such research, with its possible genomic connotations, to me, is of far more importance than profilingfordrugsand testingwhetherdiabetes,andother diseases can be treated through gene sequencing. In my tribe, for example, because of escalating costs of imported drugs, increasing numbers of people are resorting to natural resources for their health. For instance,theMiracleBerry(SynsepallumDulcificum)which turnsallcarbohydratesweet forseveralhourswheneatensoonafterjustoneberry,isbeinggrownin gardens now to allow diabetics and the obese to shunsugar.ProfilingAfricansfordiabeticdrugs isaluxury no one can afford. The berry is called atamami inKrobo/Dangme,taamiinGã,andasaainTwi.Itwillbe interesting to find out whether the post-prandialpersistence of sweetness is found in all populations, and whether there are genomic differences in expression of the phenomenon.

What would excite me most would not be laying (as the present 1000 genomes experts state) “the ground work for the personal genomics era of Medicinein which people routinely will have their genomessequencedtopredicttheirindividualrisksofresponsetodrugs” [2]. Ihavebeenapractisingphysician fordecades,andthe1in4incidenceofG6PDDeficiencyinAfricanmales isnotpickedupevenin theUKtoprotect them from some otherwise useful drugs until they begin passing ‘coca cola urine’, and yet thesesame people are going to pay to be sequenced in futurejusttomakethemprofiledagainstdrugs?Evenfor Europeans and the rest of the world such genomic profilingfordrugswasverysmallbeerforwhatwouldarguablybethemostimpressivegeneticexerciseeverconceivedandexecuted.FortheaverageblackAfricanit would be no beer at all, for we are presently almost unable to purchase common anti-malarial drugs andantibiotics,andareturningtoherbs.Askingustobeprofiled

against drugs we could not purchase, and might not need,wouldbemockinglycruelindeed.

Genomics to help trace AncestorsNo,whatIamkeentoseedone(apartfromestablishingthat there is a neglected realm of glossogenetics) is to match the many beta-globin gene variants ofwhich Ghana has the largest number in the world [References20,21,32-40],matchthemwithwhatisfound in African-Americans, West Indians, CubansandSouthAmericansinordertohelplinkpeoplewiththeir country of origin. As regards special genes and phenotypeslikeHaemoglobinKorle-Bu(thefirsteverexampleofintra-geniccross-over)[41],HaemoglobinOsu-Christiansborg [42], Haemoglobin K-Woolwich[43], homozygous Hereditary Persistence of FetalHaemoglobin[44,45],HaemoglobinCThalassaemia[46], alpha thalassaemia and the intravascularhaemolytic reaction with G6PD deficiency [47],anyone across the Atlantic with one or more of these willnotfinditdifficulttobeintroducedtosomeoneinGhanawhocouldbetheirrelative.Furthermore, I could probe the end twigs of my own family treewhichgoesback to1670AD[20,21,6]http://www.konotey-ahulu.com/images/generation.jpgprovingthatpolygamyinmyforebearsaidedthespread of genes [48, 49].Acquiring the advice of amolecular biologistwith a known ethical dimensionlike Oxford University’s Sir DavidWeatherall FRSwould always be an asset in such research. He was the oneImentionedon20November2006[50]ashavingawholechapteronEthicsinhistextbook“TheNewGeneticsandClinicalPractice”[51]inwhich,tomakean ethical point, he used information I had published in the BMJ that, like one percent of all Ghanaians[52],Iwasbornwithextradigits[53];whileafamousgeneticistintheUK,whodoesnotmentiononcetheword ‘Ethics’ in his popular book “uses my BMJgenetichistoryanonymously”[50,54].

Male Procreative Superiority Index and GenomicsI would also want to test the ‘male procreativesuperiority index’ (MPSI) that I invented some 30yearsago[55-57]tohelpexplainspreadofgenesandseehowthisthrowssomelightonwhatisdiscoveredongenesequencing.For instance, theaveragefatherinupperGhanahasmorethan2childrentoevery1ofthefemale,whileinthesouththeratiois1.5[55-57].Will thisfactbereflectedinagenomicspectrumfordifferent areas of the same country in different tribes? Andwhatistherelationshipofdifferentvaluesof


MPSItodistributionbothofdiseasethatisnormallyconsidered ‘acquired’, andgenetic? [57]Thiswouldcertainly interest this African a great deal more than drugprofiling.

A Community with Hereditary Deafness and GenomicsA Ghanaian village, Adamarobe, with hereditarydeafness would also interest me in the sequencing process[58,59,60].Tosequencegroupsofpopulationanonymously does not appeal to me.

Individual Consent not enough, and Gene Patenting UnethicalAsProfessorFrankDukepoostressed[15]consenttovolunteershouldnotjustbeindividualconsent.Theremust be group consent regarding removing tribalgeneticmaterialandstoringit inabanksomewhere.Andwhere does ‘Intellectual PropertyRights’ comein?[61]ProfessorSirDavidWeatherall,arguablythemost outstanding British Molecular Geneticist withclinicalexperience,deservestobelistenedtoregardingthe collection of genetic material which some scientists havebeenpatenting.Posingthequestion“Whoownsthehumangenome?”[51]SirDavidstates:“ItshouldbeselfevidentthatnoparticularpieceofhumanDNAcanbethesolepropertyofanybody”[51].GivenachoiceastowhichBritishgeneticistIwouldaskforadviceonagenomeresearchproject,Iwouldnot choose the one that said nothing in his genetics book[54]aboutwherehegotthestoryfromofmyextradigits, and declined (unlikeProfessorWeatherall) tomention the ethical reason why I published details of mymanualgeneticdefectintheBMJ[53].IwouldbegladtoconsultSirDavidWeatheralland/orProfessorGeorgeFraser[62]neitherofwhomishappytotalkabout Genetics without Ethics. Human Genetics withoutethics,aswehavesadlydiscovered,leadstoEugenics![18,23] Expect the unexpectedNobel Laureate Professor JamesWatson would notbetheonlypersonwhowouldbetakenabackbytherevelationsofgenomesequencing.Thosewhodividehumankind into (to use the very words of CharlesDarwin)“thefavouredraces”[63]and“therest”arein for a surprise when genomes are probed. They will findthattherearenotseveralraces,butjustonehumanrace.SomeEuropeanandBritisharistocraticfamiliesareknown tohavegenes fromblackAfricaor fromAmericanIndians.MyKrobotribes-peoplemigrated

fromtheregionofMizraim(Egypt)andNubia(Sudan)where“therearemorepyramidsinthecityofMeroealone, and a total of 223 pyramids in the whole of Sudan,makingitthecountrywiththemostpyramidsonEarth,evenmorethanEgypt”[64].

Nothing will please me more than a genomic epidemiological study that will point to the fact that thisKrobotribesmanhadahandbygenealogicretro-extension in conceiving and building the pyramidsof Egypt and Nubia, the country of my own origin from antiquity, and whose people are now displayed, tafracher, stark naked in David Crystal’s “TheCambridgeTextbookofLanguage”[29].

IoncecommentedintheBMJonlinepublication[65]: “Racists looking at some unflatteringpictures of half nakedAfricans in glossy magazineadvertisements, for example ‘Chief Obijo and hisseriesofclickingsounds’[66]wouldliketothinkthattheAfrican(theblackman/woman)wasinferiorandslowtoevolve.Theywouldbeterriblymistaken”.Iwent on: “The African in his present sorry plight is not acaseofdelayedevolution;heisaclassicexampleofaccelerateddegeneration”[65].

The 1000 volunteers genome sequencers wouldbe interested to learn further: “There were BlackPharaohs inAncient Egypt and, before Europe wasEurope, and while the Caesars were teaching TheBritishIslestoreadandwrite,theEthiopianEunuch,ChancelloroftheExchequerofQueenCandace,wasreadingtheProphetIsaiahfluently”[65,67].Thustheinterpretation of genomic structure needs to be without prejudice. Seeing a nakedAfrican in the bush, andjumpingtoconclusionsthatheandhisancestorshadhad nothing but Stone Age experience, and assuming alsothattheybegeneticallyfarremovedfromtoday’scomputer users, is to ere greatly. I sincerely hope the experts involvedwith the ‘1000 volunteers’ genomesequencing will not confuse nurture with nature.

Nature and nurtureMy genetic family tree http://www.konotey-ahulu.com/images/generation.jpg[6]depictsjusttherelevant“few” of my kith and kin. Some close relatives onmy paternal side (Generation VIII – left of centre)not shown on the genetic map still live upcountry“in the bush”. An extremely large percentage of their genes would coincide with mine. But if you sawone or two of them today, with their circumstances, neverhavingtravelledoutsideGhana,andnowslavesof ethanol, tobacco, and worse, living like huntergatherersjustgoingroundthecornertohuntgame,


youmight think theywere from theStoneAge.Butthey are not.

TheymaynotspeakandwriteEnglishasIdo,buttheyhavenativewisdom.Comparedwithmewhowastrained atWestminsterHospital School ofMedicineby Sir Clement Price Thomas (Surgeon of KingGeorgeVI)andSirRichardBayliss(PhysicianofHerMajesty Queen Elizabeth II) and other high calibreteachersofLondonUniversity,CambridgeUniversity,and Liverpool University, the genome sequencersmayonthesurfaceconcludethatmyfirstcousinsandI areondifferentplanetsor that theyhave inheritedalcoholic genes. We are not from different planets, and theyhavenotinheritedalcoholicgenes.Icouldnevercompetewithmy“unfavoured”relativesinplayingtheKrobo ‘gbekor’ talkingdrumswith such remarkablerhythmicdexterityasismarvelloustobehold,andhefor his part can only stand and gape when he hears me play Chopin’s Nocturne in E FlatMajor on thepiano. Nurture, with its circumstances of lack ofeducation, more than Nature (genome), accounts for the difference between us. The same genomic musical proclivity manifests itself in him with the talkingdrums,andinmewithChopin.Neitherisinferiortothe other.

“Genes and Society, and Society and Genes” was the topic of my University of Ghana AlumniLectureonMarch201980,whenIstressedthatforaperson, or family, or group of families, or a particular society to be characterised by genius, genes alone werenotenoughtoexplaintheirremarkablesuccess.There isanon-quantifiablevariable factor ‘x’whichcombines disciplined upbringing, industry (hard work), Providence, life experiences including evenpersecution, and much else that interacts with heredity [68].

Genes alone are not enoughLongfellow’s rhyme thatmy father taughtmeat theage9yearsinthetribeatOdumase-Krobounderlineswhat I am saying: “The heights by great men reached andkept,werenotobtainedbysuddenflightbut,whiletheir companions slept, they kept toiling upward inthenight”[69]Genomeplusindustrybringssuccess.Genome minus industry may produce a wretched human phenotype. I am pleased, therefore, to learn thattheexpertsinthisexercise[2]donotthinkthattheinterpretation of the global genomic sequencing will be easy. They are absolutely right. They should not, for example,considertheYorubapeopleprimitive.ListentotheGermanSciencewriterHerbertWendt:“ModernethnologistshavefoundtheartoftheYorubasso

astonishinglyhighinqualitythattheydidnot[atfirst]ascribe it to a Negro race” [70]. So, interpreters of genomic sequencingmust be ‘racially colour blind’,likeLordRosenheimFRS,and the researchersmusteschew wrong doing.

Blaming HIV/AIDS on “4000 years old extinct genes”?The recent worldwide news item stating categorically thatresearchersintheUSAandUK[71]havefoundthatagenevariantwhichhasemergedfromlongtermexposuretoPlasmodiumVivaxmalaria“mayexplainwhymorethantwo-thirdsofthoseinfectedwithHIVliveinsub-SaharanAfrica”[72]isbasedondubioushypothesis rather than proven epidemiological fact:note the word “may” in the phrase “may explain”. When the researchers claim that the same gene variant that predisposesAfricans to HIV/AIDS alsoleads “paradoxically to prolonged survival in HIV-infected subjects” [73]one just has to turn toSouthAfricaforcontraryscientificfacts[910] toseehowepidemiologically naive are the genomic cogitationsinthearticleofProfessorHeandcolleagues[71].

Take the Zevenfontein region in South Africawhere 85% of people have been found to be HIV-Positive [8]. Has Plasmodium Vivax contributed tothis?OrcouldthisextraordinarilyhighHIV-Positivityrather have the kind of iatrogenic dimension thatGisselquist et al [9] and Didier Fassin and Helen Schneider[10]exposed.Thedangerthatreports likethese (broadcast to the whole world with fanfare) pose is thatwe are inadvertently (or deliberately) thrownoffthescentleadingtounravellingtruth.

We have been here before with genomicsWe have indeed been here before. Dubious AIDSresearch-results in genomics are given world-wideprominence leading to pathologically stereotyping the African then, later, after the harm is done, the research results are shown to be false, irrelevant, orinconclusive.Afewexampleswillsuffice:(a) OnSunday3rdMay1987at09.15GMTtheBBCWorld Service broadcast the first of its twiceaweek programmeScience InAction.As I listenedI heard DrAnthony Pinching being interviewed onresearchpublishedthepreviousdayinTheLancet[74],researchwhichinhisownwords(notetheword‘may’)“may explain why the epidemic has spread faster in CentralAfrica than even in theUnited States”.TheinterviewsoundedasifafactaboutCentralAfricahadbeendiscoveredyetitconcludedwiththestatement:


“We have not yet tested this hypothesis ourselvesaboutCentralAfrica”[75]Butwhichhypothesiswasthis?Pinchingandcolleagueshadproducedevidencethat homosexuals with AIDS were those who had inheritedaparticular‘something’foundintheirbloodcalled“groupspecificcomponentGc1f”,andthat“itisofinterestthatinanareawhereHIVinfectionisverycommon – namely in some parts of CentralAfrica- the Gc1f allele predominates in the indigenouspopulation” [74]. Referring to the Peuhl Fula inSenegalandtheBi-AkapygmiesthatPinching’steamwere characterising I said, critically, “To use genetic data from this anthropologically distinct group, who do not even have AIDS, to cover Central Africa,leaves a lot to be desired” [76]. So it did, becausealthough Pinching’s teamwrote back toTheLancetto say my interpretation of their paper “is at fault” [77], the weight of criticism of their paper lasting overtenmonthswassuchthatPinching’steamwroteto withdraw it from The Lancet. They rather were “at fault” because their climb-down paper was entitled“Group-specific component and AIDS: erroneousdata”[78]TheBBCandtheworldmediadidnotfindthissignificantenoughtomention. (b) In two consecutive sentences sprinkledwith“…probably…perhaps…probably” Dr Robert Gallo ofretrovirusfamepronouncestheoriginoftheAIDSvirus tobeAfrica[79]. I thenproducedphotographs[80]of“freshlykilledgreenmonkeyinthemarketatMonrovia” theLiberiancapital,whichhad (andstillhas)thetwolargestmonkeymeatmarketsintheworld.And there was then not single AIDS patient in the city, exceptawomanwhohadjustbeentransferredhomefromAbidjantodiefromthenewdisease.LaboratoriesintheUSAandUKhadbeenproducing“evidence”ofgenetichomologyofmonkeyvirusesandthehumanimmuno-deficiency virus, and convinced the worldthat thiswas indeed so. But I photographed aWestAfricanwhohadjustcarriedhomean‘AfricanGreenMonkey’tocookforlunch[Figurebelow]–astaplemeathehadfedonallhislife.HewasHIV-Negative.Laboratory extrapolations to clinical reality can be grossly erroneous, as Robert Biggar and colleaguesadmittedthattheywerewrongabouttheir‘finding’ofhighsero-epidemiologyintheruralregionsofKenyaandZairetwodecadesago[81](c)Itwaswidelyproclaimedonradioandtelevisionthat American Professors Max Essex and PhyllisKanki had discovered monkey genes in the bloodof Senegalese prostitutes [82]. Another Americanprofessorprovedthistobeimpossibleandsaidso,

whereuponEssexandKankiadmittedthat therewaslaboratory contamination of monkey blood withhuman blood.Their prestigious university redeemeditsreputationwhentheveryrespectedProfessorCarolMulderatthesameuniversitywroteaneditorialaboutthe alleged discovery which she cleverly called “Acaseofmistakennon-identity”[83] (d) Then on February 2 1999 the world was informed throughbroadcaststhat“NIAID-SupportedScientistsDiscoverOriginofHIV-1”.ProfessorBeatriceHahnandherteamintheUniversityofAlabamatookphotoopportunitiestobeinterviewedabouttheChimpanzeesubspeciesPantroglodytestroglodyteswhosegenomeconvinced themthat theywere thesourceofHIVinhumans[NatureFebruary41999]. (e) Then came other authentic but contrary messages: (i)May312001:Natural selectionandresistance toHIV. A genotype that lowers susceptibility to HIVextends survival at a time of peak fertility [84]. (ii)June 12 2003: “HIV Originated withMonkeys, notChimps” (Stephen Logan for National Geographic).(iii)May262006‘ScienceDaily’“Aninternational


teamofscientists,ledbyresearchersattheUniversityof Alabama at Birmingham (Yingying Li, BrandonKeale, Beatrice Hahn), has discovered a crucialmissing link in the search for the origin of HIV-1, responsible for human AIDS. That missing linkis the natural reservoir of the virus,which the teamhas found in wild-living chimpanzees in SouthernCameroon”(iv)June222007“AIDSepidemictiedtogene that once protected us … Resistance that humans acquired 4million years ago to a now extinct virusthatinfectedchimpanzeesandgorillasmayhaveleftusmoresensitivetoHIVinfectiontoday”[85].Note“may”.

Andnow,asshownabove,thismalariaproneness-then-resistancegenehasbeenannouncedworld-wideas the explanation for theHIV/AIDS devastation ofAfrica.But theauthorswerecareful touse theword‘may’. If tomorrow theyare found tobewrong,didthey not use the word “may” to indicate that they were perhaps doubtful of the alleged connection? This‘HeadsIwinTailsIalsowin’stanceinscientificpronouncements has characterised much of genomics especiallywhereHIV/AIDS is concerned.Based onthe gene sequencing of certain species of the African GreenMonkey,theoriginoftheAIDSviruswasfirmlyplacedinAfrica[86],butclinicalepidemiologytellsadifferentstory[808687].

Clinical Epidemiology provides answers where gene sequencing failsAfter carefully surveying the African AIDS scene,travellingthelengthandbreadthofmycontinent[80868788],Icametotheconclusionthatquestionsandanswers regarding the tragedy had more to do with clinicalepidemiology(namelyfindinganswerstothequestions What? When? Where? Which? Who? How? and Why?) than anything else. For instance, the answer to the question “Of two sisters who left my tribaltown Manyakpongunor in Ghana for internationalprostitutioninAbidjanforforeignexchange,whydidonecomebackhomeearlier(byseveralyears)todiefrom AIDS than the other?” They both were bitten by thesamemosquitoesandsuffered fromPlasmodiumvivaxmalaria.Whydid it takea far longer time forone sister to suffer from AIDS? Genome sequencing ofchimpanzeesorworkonredcellproteinsrelatingtomalariaexposurecouldneverhandlethisquestion.ButI was able to ascertain that the sister who got AIDS late totallyrefusedanalintercourseevenforextramoney,whilehersisterhadbothpeno-rectalandpeno-vaginalintercourse demanded by foreigners for more money.

The perineum of the latter was so shattered I had to coinaspecialtermforit“perinealdevastation”[80888990],thelikeofwhichisnotinanytextbook.Theinformation I gathered interviewing more than 125international prostitutes on duty around the continent could not have been obtained sitting in a laboratorydissecting genes andmaking ex cathedra statementsforworldbroadcast.Onesuchexcathedrastatementwasthathumansacquired“resistance4millionyearsagotoanowextinctvirusthatinfectedchimpanzeesandgorillas”[85]

Iwasalso thefirst to linkAIDS tocircumcisionby just observing that up to 85% of West Africantribesmustcircumcisetheirmaleswhileonly15%ofEastAfricansmustdothataccordingtocustom.IjustcomparedtheferocityofAIDSinEast/CentralAfricawith West Africa and I found that retaining the prepuce must have something to do with this observation,justascarcinomaofthepenisishardlyknowninthecircumcised[808689].YearsafterImentionedthisintheBritishMedicalJournalAmericanworkersbegantothinkonthoselines.

Which leads to this: if the findings of genesequencing do not tally with clinical epidemiology, then ‘genomics’ is wrong. The danger of acceptingwhat is false as fact in the African AIDS scene is that the real ‘culprit’ inadeterioratingsituationwillbeprovidedwithanalibi.Whensub-SaharanAfricacontinuestobedevastatedandiatrogenicdepopulationcontinuesaccordingtotheplansofscientific‘sonsofBelial’ with Nazi proclivities, as Didier Fassin andHelenSchneiderhavechillinglyrevealedaboutSouthAfrica [10], the world media will blissfully continue to blamemalariagenes.MeanwhileLancet’swarningof“publichealthinreverse”arisingfromthe“Biologicalbomb” that DNA technology makes available [24],will be totally ignored.

There are many non-African scientists withremarkable integrity, like Professor Gisselquistand colleagues [9], who have published thatAfricahas many HIV-POSITIVE children whose parentsare HIV-NEGATIVE, and who are virgins – thesesympathetic foreign friends of our continent need to beencouraged to continue revealing suchanomaliesin“receivedwisdom”thatclaimsthatsexaloneisthecause of the AIDS problem in Africa. These friends of my continent, and African professionals in the Diasporaandathome,shouldlookoutforthingsthatdo not add up in the present gene sequencing exercise. Why, for instance, should it be done anonymously and thegeneskeptinabankinEurope?


Conclusion

(1) I congratulate Nobel Laureate Craig Venter forbeing the very first to publish his entire genomesequence [3].

(2) I am not happy about anonymity in this genome sequencingendeavour.Thereareremarkablesurprisestobeuncovered. I shallencourageAfricans,AfricanAmericans, American Indians, and ‘racially colour blind’whitesandotherswhoarenotrepresentedinthepresent‘1000Volunteers’team,andwhoareworkingin Genomics, to form their own groups, and shift their aim from the pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic targets, to concentrate on other aspects. They need to monitor and check every finding, especially“interpretations” published by the 1000 VolunteersGroup, using their own resources. Researchers must notmissthegenomic-cum-naturewoodforindividualDNA trees.

(3) Take seriously the unexplored fields ofglossogeneticsandtonallinguistics.Tostraight-jackettonal linguistics within a conventional linguisticsterminology (memes, phonemes, statistics, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, apobetics, etc) is to miss some glaring facts like the Krobo/Dangme-Gã vowel eg‘a’conveyingno less than6differentmeanings toaconsonant(6,22,27,28,87).EachofthesevenKrobo/Dangme-Gãvowelsaeεio ɔ u has at least six different ways of being written, making the total number ofvowels42,whichisnotwhatconventionallinguisticstells us. For Adult Education exercises in the tribe I haveintroducedcolourtodiscernonepitchfromtheotherinthesamevowel[6,28].ColouringthesoundforAdultEducationatthetriballeveltomakepeoplerecognise the reproducible pitches is something new [22,28]

(4) Tell tribalchiefsandgroupswhat ishappening.ImagineNigerianChiefshearingitannouncedintheworld media that the Yoruba have some particulargenomic features. “When, where, and how was genetic material collected from our people?” would be their justified concern. We are all concerned. Itboils down to a question of trust andmistrust. Likethe ancient Romans with gifts from the Greeks thewatchword is this: “Hei, Africani Negriti! Genomo ne credite. Quidquid id est, timemus researcheros et dona ferentes”[Hei,FellowBlackAfricans!DonottrusttheGenome Sequencing Project.Whatever it promises,wefeartheresearchersevenwhentheybringgifts]

(5)Publishnameswithconsentofpeople.IwasnotashamedforSirDavidWeatherall tostatethatIwasoneof the1%ofGhanaians thatwerebornwith theMendellianDominantgeneforanextradigitonbothhands.TheYorubaindividualswouldnotobjecteither,I suspect depending on what they were told.

(6)BlackandWhiteResponsibility:Blacksshouldbediscerningenoughtoknowwhichwhiteperson“isontheir side” and not antagonise them. Whites need to be discerningenoughtoknowwhointheirmidstareneo-Naziswitha“racialsupremacydoctrine”. Carefullycheckwhatinterpretationstheyputontheirfindings.“WehavefoundlazygenesintheblackAfrican”willnotbeascientificdeduction.Couldthemalariageneexplanation forAIDS ‘proneness then resistance’ toHIV be one such careless interpretation of genomicfindings?

(7)TheexpertssequencinggenesofBlackAfricansathome and abroad in the Diaspora across the Atlantic (that is those who had been at the wrong end of enforced migration),couldbetemptedtoconcentrateonlookingfor‘genesforbrawn’becauseoftheirOlympicGoldMedals andWorld Records in athletics and boxing.To such researchers Iwould simply say this: “Lookhardenoughandyouwillfindgenesforbothbrainandbrawn”.SomeracistsknowforafacttheAfricancanbe a world class beater by brain and brawn and will do theirlevelbesttopreventthemprovingtheyareequaltothebestintheworld:Videthedeathbedconfessionof theUKdon to theGhanaianHouse Physician ofLord Rosenheim

(8)Learnaboutthetribebeforeinterpretinggenes.Inmy Krobo tribe extra digits mean nothing. In another tribeeastofusacrosstheVoltaRiver,birthofachildwithextradigitsisgreatcauseforjubilationbecause“thischildwillbeveryrichinfuture”.Inatribewestof us beyond the hills some babies with extra digits were drowned at birth, a practice that was stopped by Christian Missionaries. I mentioned this fact in theBMJ [50, 53] to point out that aKrobo person likemewho had 3 siblingswith sickle cell diseasewasappalledtofindthatcivilisedBritainwasteachingthatmy3siblingsshouldhavebeendiagnosedprenatallyandaborted.Nodifference,Isaid,werethescientifictribesmeninGreatBritain,fromthoseAfricantribesthatweredrowningbabieswithextradigits[50,53].I am so glad I was born in the Krobo tribe, and not in oneparticulartribe‘beyondthehills’,otherwiseI


would not be here to respond to “Sequencing Genome of1000Volunteers”.Itiswelltonotethatinthesmallareaof about 500 squaremiles the three contiguousAfrican tribes had entirely different attitudes towards extradigits.Tomakestatementslike“InAfrica,suchand such a thing happens” can lead to perpetuating error after error. The Krobo people must circumcise theirmales;itdoesnotmeanallAfricanscircumcisetheir males.

(9) Before assuming that this genome sequencingexercise can adequately answer the question(s) “What’s Nature and What’s Nurture?”, surely it isnecessarytotacklethequestion:“WhatistheoriginoftheGeneticCode?”Andwhobettertodothisthantheco-discovereroftheGeneticCode?ProfessorFrancisCrickwho(withJamesWatson)got theNobelPrizefortheirdiscoveryanddescriptionoftheDNADoubleHelixandtheGeneticCode[91,92]sethimselfthetaskofdescribing“TheOriginoftheGeneticCode”[93].Hefailed.After14pagesofwellreasonedargumenthisverdicton“TheEvolutionofTheGeneticCode”wasthat:“Thepresentcodecouldhaveeasilyreachedits present form by a sequence of happy accidents” [93]Hegoeson:“Theevolutionofthecodesketchedhere has the property that it could produce a code in which the actual allocation of amino acid to codons is mainly accidental and yet related amino acids would be expected to have related codons”.Then comes akindof‘I-give-up-trying’sentence:“Thetheoryseemsplausiblebutasatheoryitsuffersfromamajordefect:it is too accommodating. In a loose sort of way it can explain anything” [93]. Crick has not finished hisverdict:“Aseconddisadvantageisthattheearlystepsneeded to get the system going seem to require rather a lotofchanceeffect”.[93]TakeyourhatsofftoFrancisCrickforhishonesty,andforconfessingthathedoesnotknowhowthegeneticcodeoriginated.

ButanotherNobelLaureate,ProfessorPeterMedawar,inhisfascinatingbook,‘TheLimitsofScience’statescategorically that “certain questions like origins gobeyondtheexplanatoryconfidenceofscience”[94].Inotherwords,PeterMedawarbelievesthatthe“originof the genetic code” eludes scientific explanation.TherearenotoolsknowntoScience,saysMedawar,that can fathom the origin of the genetic code. Quite so! I entirely agree with him. The origins, in my interpretationofProfessorMedawar’s reasoning,are(asIonceputit)suprascientific[95],whichbringsmeto my last point:

(10) When I consider that there are between 3 billion and4billion(3000,000,000- 4,000,000,000)basesin one human genome required to assemble ‘Felix Israel Domeno Konotey-Ahulu’, I cannot but extoltheawesomeSuprascientificOriginatorof theDNA,theGeneticCode, theGenome and, yes, the humanConscience[96].

Competing interests: None declared.

F IDKonotey-AhuluMBBSMD(Lond)DSc(UCC,Hon)FGAFRCPFGCPDTMHFTWASFAASKwegyirAggreyDistinguished Professor of HumanGenetics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana andConsultant Physician/Genetic Counsellor in SickleCell Disease and other Haemoglobinopathies, TenHarley Street, London W1G 9PF [E-mail: [email protected]] References

1. Wise Jacqui. Consortium hopes to sequencegenomeof1000volunteers.BMJ2008;336: 237 (2 February)

2. Announcement: http://www.1000genomes.org/fi les/1000Genomes-NewsRelease.pdfInternational Consortium Announces the 1000GenomesProject.Major SequencingEffortWillProduceMost DetailedMap of Human GeneticVariation to Support Disease Studies. (TuesdayJanuary222008)

3. MayorSusan.Genomesequenceofoneindividualispublishedforthefirsttime. BMJ2007;335:530-531.

4. SYMPOSIUM: The Human Genome DiversityProject. POLITICS and The LIFE SCIENCES. September 1999. Volume 18:Number2,pp285-340.

5. ResnikDavidB.TheHumanGenomeDiversityProject: Ethical Problems and Solutions.POLITICS and The LIFE SCIENCES 1999; 18: 15-23.

6. Konotey-Ahulu FID. The Human GenomeDiversity Project: Cogitations of an AfricanNative.InHumanGenomeDiversityProject.

POLITICS and The LIFE SCIENCES 1999; 18: 317-322.

7. AlperJosephS,BeckwithJon.Racism:ACentralProblem for Human Genome Diversity Project.InHumanGenomeDiversityProject.POLITICS and THE LIFE SCIENCES1999;18: 285-288.


8. FinancialTimes.AIDSinSouthAfrica.Friday,20September2002,page14.

9. GisselquistD,RothenbergR,PotteralJ,DruckerE. HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa notexplainedbysexualorverticaltransmission.Int J STD & AIDS2002; 13:656-666.

10. Fassin Didier, Scneider Helen. The politics of AIDSinSouthAfrica:beyondthecontroversies.BMJ2003; 326: 495-97(1March)

11. 11DuesbergPeter.HIVisnotthecauseofAIDS.Science 1988;241:514-517(July29).

12. Thairu Kihumbu. The African & The AIDS Holocaust:AHistoricalandMedicalPerspective.Nairobi, Kenya 2003. Phoenix Publishers Ltd.ISBN9966471847.

13.ClintonPresidentWJ.Apology on behalf of theAmericangovernmenttosurvivorsoftheTuskegeeSyphilisExperimentvictims.Worldwideradio&Television.May161997.

14.BowmanJamesE.TheHumanGenomeDiversityProject as a Complement to Human PopulationGenetics. In The Human Genome DiversityProject. POLITICS and The LIFE SCIENCES 1999;18:289-290

15.Dukepoo Frank. It’s more than the HumanGenome Diversity Project. In The HumanGenome Diversity Project. POLITICS and The LIFE SCIENCES1999;18:293-297.

16.Rifkin J.TheBiotechCentury.NewYork 1998.PenguinPutnam.

17.Konotey-Ahulu FID. Four bodyguards and theperilsofunmaskingscientifictruths.PERSONALVIEW.BMJ 2007;335:210-211(July28).

18.Konotey-Ahulu FID.Missing the wood for onegenetic tree? In D Loukopoulos and RLTeplitz(Eds) Proceedings of the First InternationalSymposium on The Role of Recombinant DNA inGenetics(Chania,Crete,Greece–May13-161985)AthensPPaschalidis1986,pages105-116.

19.VertaikRobert.Revealed:Scientistwho sparkedracismrowhasblackgenes.THEINDEPENDENT,December 10 2007.

20.Konotey-Ahulu FID. Sickle Cell Disease inSuccessive Ghanaian Generations for ThreeCenturies Chapter 2 In Pattern of Sickle CellDiseaseinAccra–AStudyof1,550ConsecutivePatients.AThesisPresentedforthepostgraduatedegree of DOCTOR of MEDICINE in theUniversityofLondon1972.

21.Konotey-Ahulu FID. The Sickle Cell DiseasePatient. London, The Macmillan Press Ltd1991/1992 and Tetteh-A’Domeno Company(T-A’DCo)WatfordUK1996ISBN0-9515442-2-5,pp6-20.

22.Konotey-Ahulu FID. The Remarkable AfricanEar:PhenomenonofMidPitchArrest inKrobo/Dangme-Gã Tonal Languages of South EastGhana.AfricanAmericanMuseumofPhiladelphia[AAMP]AwardLecture 5May 2007. Summaryaccessible at: http://blog.konotey-ahulu.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/5/3014341.html

23.Müller-Hill Berno. Murderous Science:Elimination by Scientific Selection of Jews,Gypsies, and Others – Germany 1933-1945.[TranslatedfromGermanbyGRFraser]Oxford,OxfordUniversityPress,1988.

24.Annotations.TheBiologicalBomb. Lancet1968(March20); 1: 465

25.White NJ, Nosten F, Looareesuwan S, et al.Averting a malaria disaster. Lancet 1999; 353:1965-67.

26.Konotey-AhuluFID.Avertingamalariadisaster.Lancet 17July1999;354:258.

27.Konotey-AhuluFID.MotherTongue;IntroducingTheTadkaPhonationTechniqueForSpeakingAnAfrican Tonal Language Krobo/Dangme-Gã ofSouth-East Ghana. Tetteh-A’Domeno Company(T-A’DCo)Watford,UKISBN0-9515442-4-1

28.Konotey-Ahulu FID. Discovery of a UniqueFeature of Tonal Linguistics – The Mid PitchArrestPhenomenoninKrobo/Dangme-GãMotherTongue of South East Ghana. GHANA@50Lecture of the Ghana Academy of Arts & Sciences (Britsh Council, Accra) 30th October 2007.[ReportsinGhanaianTimesNovember12007,p1“NeneSakiteIIKonorofManyaKrobohonoursDrFelixKonotey-AhuluafterGhana@50lecturewiththetitle‘KloHingmε’(TheEyeofKrobo)”&p32byWilliamYawOwusu:“Konotey-AhuluonhowtoavoidlosingourMotherTongue”

29.Crystal David. The Cambridge Encyclopediaof Language. Cambridge University Press,Cambridge1997.ISBN0521550505.

30.Konotey-AhuluFID.Tafracher–PersonalView:AninvaluableGhanaiandevulgarizingword.BMJ 1975; 1:329(8Feb)Accessiblefromhttp://www.ucc.edu.gh/node/258 University of Cape Coastwebsite, Ghana.


31.ArmahAyi Kwei. Hieroglyphics for Babies – aChildren’s primer onAncient Egyptian writing.Popenguie, Senegal PER ANKH 1997. ISBN2-911928-06-7

32.EdingtonGM. Sickle cell anaemia in theAccradistrict of the Gold Coast. A review of twentycases. BMJ 1953; 2: 957-61.

33.Edington GM, Lehmann H. Expression of thesicklecellgeneinAfrica.BMJ1955;1:1308-11.

34.EdingtonGM,LaingWN.RelationshipbetweenhaemoglobinCandSandmalariainGhana.BMJ 1957;2:143-45.

35.Ringelhann B, Dodu SRA, Konotey-AhuluFID, Lehmann H. A survey for haemoglobinvariants , thalassaemia,andglucose6phosphatedehygrogenase (G6PD) deficiency in Ghana.Ghana Medical Journal1968;7:120-124.

36.Konotey-Ahulu FID. Hereditary qualitative andquantitative erythrocyte defects in Ghana. Anhistorical and geographical survey (Editorial)Ghana Medical Journal 1968; 7: 118-119.

37.Konotey-Ahulu FID. Patterns of clinicalhaemoglobinopathy. East African Medical J. 1969;46:149-56.

38. 38Konotey-AhuluFID.Theusualandunusualinclinicalhaemoglobinopathy.InSzaboG,PappZ(Eds). Medical Genetics, Excerpta Medica1977;791-800.

39.Konotey-AhuluFID.Thespectrumofphenotypicexpression of clinical haemoglobinopathy in West Africa. New Istanbul Contribution to Clinical Science 1978;12:246-257.

40.Ringelhann B, Konotey-Ahulu FID.Haemoglobinopathies and Thalassaemias in Mediterranean Areas and in West Africa:Historicalandotherperspectives1910to1997–ACenturyReview.Attidell’AccademiadellScienzediFerrara,Vol74:AnnoAccademico174,1996-97,pp267-307.

41.Konotey-Ahulu FID., Gallo E, Lehmann H,Ringelhann B. Haemoglobin Korle Bu (alpha2beta2 73 Aspartic Acid to Asparagine) showing one of two amino acid substitutions of Hemoglobin CHarlem.J Med Genet1968; 5:107-111

42.Konotey-Ahulu FID, Kinderlerer, Lehmann H,RinglehannB.HaemoglobinOsu-Chroistiansborg:AnewbetachainvariantofHaemoglobinA(beta52D3AsparticAcidtoAsparagine)incombinationwith Haemoglobin S. J Med Genet 1971;8:392-305

43.RingelhannB,Konotey-AhuluFID,TalapatraNC,NkrumahFK,PriceB,LehmannH.HaemoglobinK Woolwich (alpha2 beta2 132 Lys to Gln) and itscombinationwithHbSandCintwoGhanaiantribes. Acta Haematologica 1971; 45:250-58.

44.KamuzoraH,RingelhannB,Konotey-AhuluFID,LehmannH,LorkinPA.FurtherinvestigationsofthegammachaininaGhanaianadulthomozygousfor hereditary persistence of foetal haemoglobin. IsolationofG-B3peptidesandGgamma:Agammaratio determination in human Hb F. Acta Hematologica 1975; 53:35.

45.Acquaye CTA, Oldham JH, Konotey-AhuluFID. Blood donor homozygous for hereditarypersistence of fetal haemoglobin. Lancet1977;1: 796-797.

46.Konotey-Ahulu FID, Ringelhann B. Siclkle cellanaemia, Sickle Cell beta thalassaemia, Sicklecell haemoglobin C disease, and asymptomaticHaemoglobin C thalassaemia in one Ghanaianfamily. BMJ1969; 1:607-612.

47.Konotey-Ahulu FID. Alpha-Thalassaemianomenclature and abnormal haemoglobins. Lancet 1984;1:1024-1025.

48.Konotey-AhuluFID.Maintenanceofhighsicklingrate:RoleofPolygamy. J Trop Med Hyg 1970;73: 19-21.

49.BonneyGE,Konotey-AhuluFID.Polygamyandgenetic equilibrium,. Nature1977;265: 46-47.

50.Konotey-AhuluFIDRefusingtoprovideaprenataltest for refusing later termination of pregnancy: Can it ever be ethical? http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/333/7577/1066#149662 BMJ RapidResponse20November2006.

51.WeatherallDJ.Ethicalissuesandrelatedproblemsarising from the application of the new genetics toclinicalpractice.Chapter12InDJWeatherall:TheNewGeneticsandClinicalMedicinePractice.ThirdEdition.Oxford,OxfordUniversity Press,1991,pages346-368.

52.BonneyGE,WalkerM,GbedemahK,Konotey-Ahulu FID. Multiple births and visible birthdefects in 13000 consecutive deliveries in oneGhanaianhospital.InProceedingsoftheSecondInternational Congress on Twin Studies (PartC) Ed: NanceWalter. Progress in Clinical and Biological Research 1978;24B:105-108.

53.Konotey-AhuluFID. Ethical issues in pre-nataldiagnosis. BMJ 289:185.

54. JonesSteve.TheLanguageofthegenes;Biology,History and the Evolutionary Future. Flamingo,London1993.ISBN0006546765.


55.Konotey-AhuluFID.MaleProcreativeSuperiorityIndex(MPSI):TheMissingCoefficientinAfricanAnthropogenetics. BMJ 1980;281:1700-02.

56.Konotey-AhuluFID.Maleprocreativesuperiorityin African populations: The fact established and quantified. In Szabo G, Papp Z, Eds. Medical Genetics, Excerpta Medica 1977,600-607.

57.Konotey-AhuluFID.TheMaleSuperiorityIndex(MPSI): Its relevance to genetical counsellingin Africa. In FIFTY YEARS OF HUMANGENETICS.A Festschrift and LiberAmicorumTo Celebrate The Life and Work of GEORGEROBERT FRASER Edited by Oliver Mayo,CarolynLeach.WakefieldPressAugust2007,pp48-50. Kent Town. SouthAustralia 5067. ISBN9781862547537.

58.DavidJB,EdooBB,MustaffahJOAF.Adamarobe–A‘deaf’village.Sound 1971; 5: 70-72.

59.AmedofuK,BrobbyGW,OcanseyG.Congenitalnon-syndromal deafness at Adamarobe, anisolatedGhanaianvillage.Prevalence,incidence,and audiometric characteristics of deafness in avillage (Part1). Journal of the Ghana Science Association1999;1:63-69.

60NystVictoria.ADescriptiveAnalysisofAdamorobeSignLanguage(Ghana).Janskerkhof10,3512BLUtrecht, The Netherlands 2007. ISBN 978-90-78328-22-3

61 Brush Stephen B. Indigenous Knowledge ofBiological Resources and Intellectual PropertyRights: The Role of Anthropology. American Anthropologist 1993;95(3):653-686.

62 Fraser George R. Medical knowledge in theservice of informed parental reproductivedecision and choice: absence of implications for eugenicideology.InFIFTYYEARSOFHUMANGENETICS.A Festschrift and LiberAmicorumTo Celebrate The Life and Work of GEORGEROBERT FRASER Edited by Oliver Mayo,CarolynLeach.WakefieldPressAugust2007,pp287-309.KentTown.SouthAustralia5067.ISBN9781862547537.

63DarwinCharles.TheOriginofSpeciesByNaturalSelection - Or The Preservation Of FavouredRaces In The Struggle For Life. London 1859.Reprinted,PenguinBooksLondon,1968.

64Walker Robin.WhenWe Ruled. London, EveryGeneration Media. Reviewed in New AfricanLondon,October2006,pages12-18.http://www.everygenerationmedia.co.uk

65Konotey-AhuluFID.AIDSinAfrica:Wakeupcallandneedforparadigmshift.BMJRapidResponse(3 April 2003) to Didier Fassin and Helen Schneider ThepoliticsiofAIDSinSouthAfrica;beyondthecontroversies. BMJ 2003; 326: 495-497 http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/326/7387/495#.

66TIMEMagazine.Howwelldoyoushare?RicohImage Communication Advert featuring Aficiosolutions.(InsideCover)December162002.

67ACTSofTheApostles.Chapter8verses26to40.EthiopianeunuchreadingProphetIsaiah.

68 Konotey-Ahulu FID. “Genes and Society, andSocietyandGenes”UniversityofGhanaAlumniLecture,LegonMarch20,1980.

69 Longfellow Harry Wadsworth. The heights bygreatmenreachedandkept…(USA1807-1882).

70 Wendt Herbert. How Yoruba art dazzled theEuropeans.NewAfrican.London,October2006,pages26-27.

71.HeWeijing,NeilStuart,KulkarniHemant,WrightEdward,AganBrianK,MarconiVincentC,DolanMatthewJ,WeiisRobinA,AhujaSuniK.Duffyantigen receptor for chemokinesmediates trans-infectionofHIV-1fromredbloodcellstotargetcells and affects HIV-AIDS susceptibility. Cell Host and Microbe 2008; 4: 52-62 [http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/07/17/2306625.htm

72.WaltonRobertT,Roland-JonesSarahL.HIVandchemokine binding to red blood cells –DARCmatters. Editorial Comment in Cell Host and Microbe 2008; 4:3-5

73. Sibeko Sibiwe. “A gene variant that emergedthousands of years ago to protect Africans from malaria may raise their vulnerability to HIVinfection,buthelpthemlivelongeronceinfected,researcherssay”.Reuters,ABCScience,Thursday17July2008

74.EalesL-J,NyeKE,ParkinJM,WeberJN,ForsterSM, Harris JRW, Pinching AJ. Association ofdifferentallelicformsofgroupspecificcomponentwith susceptibility to and clinical manifestation of humanimmunodeficiencyvirusinfection.Lancet 1987;1:1268-1269

75. Pinching Anthony J. 1987. Group specificcomponent Gc1f and AIDS. Science in Action. BBCWorldService3rdMay09.15

76.Konotey-Ahulu FID. Group specific componentandHIVinfection.Lancet 1987; 1:1267

77.Eales L-J, Nye K, PinchingAJ. Group specificinfection and HIV infection. Lancet 1987; 1: 1268-1269.


78.Eales L-J, Nye K, PinchingAJ. Group-specificcomponent and AIDS: Erroneous Data. Lancet 1988;1:136

79.Gallo Robert C. The AIDS virus. Scientific American1987; 256:38-48

80.Konotey-Ahulu FID. What IS AIDS? Tetteh-A’DomenoCompany.Watford,UK,1989&1996.

81.BiggarRobert,SaxingerC,SarinP,BlattnerWA.Non-specificity of HTLV-III reactivity in serafrom rural Kenya and eastern Zaire. East African Journal 1986;63:683-84.

82.Essex M, Kanki P. Comparison of simianimmunodeficiency virus isolates. Nature 1988;331:621-622

83.MulderC.Acaseofmistakennon-identity.Nature 1988;331:562-563.

84. Schliekelman Paul, Garner Chad, SlatkinMontgomery. Natural selection and resistanceto HIV. Nature 2001; 411: 545-46. doi: 10.1038/35079176

85.Kaiser Shan M, Malik Harmit S, EmermanMichael. Restriction of an extinct retrovirus bythe Human TRIM5α anti-viral protein. Science 2007;316: 1756-58.http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol/316/issue5832

86.Konotey-Ahulu FID. Clinical epidemiology, notsero-epidemiologyistheanswertoAfrica’sAIDSproblem. BMJ 1987; 294:1593-94

87.Black people’s red faces andAIDS prevention.Lancet2000;355: 1559.

88.Konotey-AhuluFID.SomethirtyfeaturesofAIDSin Africa. Annales Universitataires des Sciences de la Santé 1987;4: 541-544.

89.Konotey-Ahulu FID. An African on AIDS inAfrica. The AIDS Letter – Royal Society ofMedicine(GuestEditorial,London).Number11,February1989,pp1-3.

90.Konotey-Ahulu FID.AIDS: origin, transmissionand moral dilemmas. Journal of Royal Society of Medicine 1987;80: 720

91.WatsonJD,CrickFHC.Astructurefordeoxyribosenucleic acids. Nature 1953;171: 737-38.

92.WatsonJD,CrickFHC.Geneticalimplicationsofthe structure of deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 1953;171:964-967.

93.Crick FHC. The Origin of the Genetic Code.Journal of Molecular Biology 1968;38:367-379.

94.Medawar Peter. The Limits of Science. Oxford,OxfordUniversityPress,1985.

95.Konotey-AhuluFID.Thesuprascientificinclinicalmedicine: a challenge for Professor Know-All.BMJ;2001;323: 1452-1453.

96. PSALM145,v1:IwillextolTheeMyGOD,OKing;andIwillblessThyNameforeverandever.דעוםלועלךמשהכרבאוךלמהיהולאךממוראדודלהלהת


Sequencing genome of 1000 volunteers: Why do this anonymously?

Documents

Transcript of Sequencing genome of 1000 volunteers: Why do this anonymously?