History
In the late 1990s deCODE proposed to create the world's first population-wide genomic biobank by collecting data from the entire population of Iceland, which numbered 270,000 at the time. The plan had these three major components: creating a genealogical database, collecting biobank specimens by means of which genotyping could be done, and creating a national electronic health record system to connect genetic data to each individual's phenotype.
In December 1998 with lobbying from deCODE, the Icelandic Parliament passed the Act on Health Sector Database which permitted public bidding for the right of a company to create this health database and use it for various purposes. The parliament shortly thereafter granted deCODE the right to create this database after the company made a successful bid to do so.
Read more about this topic: DeCODE Genetics
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“We may pretend that we’re basically moral people who make mistakes, but the whole of history proves otherwise.”
—Terry Hands (b. 1941)