Many dangers of unlocking DNA secrets

If you haven't heard of the PGP-10 yet, you will. No, they are not defendants in some crime of the century. Nor are they a new techno group. If anything, the PGP-10 resemble a chorus line performing what one geneticist calls a Molecular Full Monty.

This cohort of entrepreneurs and scientists is the cutting edge of the Personal Genome Project begun by Harvard Medical School. Recently, in an act of altruism and/or exhibitionism, the PGP-10 put their medical records, traits and genetic codes on the Web where all the scientists, paparazzi and Peeping Toms can see them.

The aim is to create a huge public database of information to speed research into the causes and cures for genetic maladies. The leader is geneticist George Church, otherwise known as No 1 in the PGP-10 list, where you can find out that he has narcolepsy and motion sickness. As you can see, Church believes that privacy is a rather old-fashioned concept. He hopes to eventually get 100,000 people willing to have their DNA snips publicly searched.