For how much would you sell your DNA? June 26, 2007
Posted by Bertalan Meskó in Biology, DNA, Invention, Medicine, Policy and Law, genetics, science.trackback
A dear reader of Scienceroll sent me a link to New Line Genetics, a company that is looking for DNA donors. The site says:
New Line Genetics pays at least $5,000 USD for the rights to use your DNA sample.
If your sample is used to generate a replacement organ that we sell, you will also receive a portion of the proceeds. Please visit www.SellMyDNA.com for more details.
The linked webpage is currently down:
So they have the technology to grow organs on demand to avoid the process of waiting on a long list for an organ transplant. How?
We will accomplish our goals by working with individuals who wish to freely sell us the rights to their DNA, thereby avoiding all the legal issues and government red tape that accompany traditional research methods.
In return, we will pay them appropriately, and also provide them with the knowledge that they are helping to make this world a better place for themselves and for generations to come.
- purchase unfertilized eggs from females
- produce an embryonic clone of the DNA donor
- extract the existing stem cells from the blastocyst
- develop stem cells into the specific organ.
I’m going to be honest, I can’t trust a biotech company that doesn’t list the biographies of it’s scientists and uses Google ads on it’s webpage.
Anyway, the idea seems to be strange for me. If I need an organ, then first I should search among my relatives to find a proper donor to avoid the graft-versus-host disease. If they can’t give me their organs, then I have to find an allograft, a “foreign” organ. An allograft should be as much identical to my organ as possible. Organs of others, in most of the cases, are far not identical to my organs. That’s why, if I’d buy an allograft from New Line Genetics, how could I know their organ is identical enough to mine?
What is your opinion? Would you sell your DNA for such purposes? If yes, for how much?
Update: Thanks to Hsien, we all know that this whole project is a hoax… That’s why she is the winner of the free RSS subscription. 
I have a shorter version of you above scheme.
1 – Get DNA and eggs to make stem cells.
2 – ???
3 – Profit!
I’m not being facetious, either. The knowledge needed to grow an organ from a transgenic blastocyst-derived cell is going to take 10 to 20 years to accumulate, and that’s coming from an optimist who works in the field.
It’s a hoax.
http://www.newlinegenetics.com/disclaimer.html
I just want to point out, if I am not mistaken, graft-versus-host disease rarely occurs in solid organ transplantation such as kidney or heart. It, however, is a common phenomenon in bone marow transplantation.
Also a person needs to look for organs from close relatives to minimize the risk of rejection, or to increase the “compatibility” of the grafts. Other than getting organs from identical twins, immunosuppressive agents are generally required to prevent any rejection episodes.
On the other hand, “tissue typing” is a common practice prior to any kind of clinical transplantations to determine the compatibility between the graft and the host. So if these “custom” organs are really available, surely they will either find the best matching grafts for you or grow it using your own DNA or from your own stem cells.
The setup is a bit similar to the plot of Robin Cook’s Chromosome 6. I share the previous poster’s skepticism of where the technology is.
There are certainly a lot of dubious companies selling stem-cell based cures.
Stem cell research has came a long way . Im a true supporter of this . I belive that some day all illnesses will be cure . I just really hate to see people mainly children suffer. I would gladly give DNA for research for free .
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