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You are in Human Genetics → Genetic Research → Biobanks → Articles and other external links

Articles and other external links

Recent Articles

• in External links
  Caulfield et al (2014) A review of the key issues associated with the commercialization of biobanks
  

• Scientific paper by GeneWatch's HM Wallace
  

  This scientific paper looks at how data from twins and families is analysed. It concludes that the usual method is likely to exaggerate the importance of genetic differences in common diseases such as cancer. Breast cancer, for example, could often run in families because family members are exposed to the same environmental or lifestyle factors, rather than because relatives share some of their genes. If so, expensive research studies may be looking for "susceptibility genes" which do not exist or will be impossible to find.

• The Guardian: Blood, sweat and tears (18th April 2006)
  

• The Guardian: Critics' U-turn (15th March 2006)
  

• The Observer: Half a million to join gene bank for life
  

• The Guardian: 500,000 people, a span of decades - and a waste of time and money?
  

• New Scientist: One million people, one medical gamble
  

• in Articles
  The development of UK Biobank: Excluding scientific controversy from ethical debate
  

  Abstract of an article by GeneWatch's Helen Wallace in the journal Critical Public Health. Please contact us if you would like a reprint of the article.

• UK Biobank: peer reviewers' comments
  

  In May 2005, the Medical Research Council (MRC) finally published the peer reviewers' comments on the biobank's 2002 scientific protocol, following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by GeneWatch UK. Many of the reviewers questioned the statistical basis of the project.

• The Telegraph: 62m pound Biobank may not be worth it
  

• BBC Online: Will Biobank pay off?
  

• in Articles
  OpenDemocracy: A UK Biobank: Good for Public Health?
  23rd July 2003

  Article by GeneWatch's Dr Helen Wallace as part of the OpenDemocracy online debate on "Genes and Ownership".

• GenomeBiology: Sobriety amid the celebration
  

• Genome Biology: Biobank debate heats up
  

• Genome Biology: MRC under attack
  

• Science and Technology Committee 2003 comments on UK Biobank
  

  The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee questioned the Medical Research Council about UK Biobank and criticised the project as "politically driven". The Committee recommended that the peer reviewers' comments should be published anonymously "to build confidence that the project is fully justified and supported by the scientific community".

• The Telegraph: DNA bank is a big gamble, says expert
  

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