Law Commons^™

The Limits Of State Laws To Protect Genetic Information, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Al Gore characterized the DNA code as a secret code like that of the Nazis. In his words, “with the completion of the Human Genome, we are on the verge of cracking another enemy's secret code. When we intercept and decipher the coded messages that cancer sends from cell to cell, we will turn the tide, and win the war against cancer.” Gore was expanding the metaphor of the war on cancer, and commandeering the DNA code in the service of that metaphor. At about the same time, then president Bill Clinton called the DNA …