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It is a pleasure and a privilege to have been asked to speak at this
dinner as there is much to celebrate; the brilliant discovery of the
structure of DNA 50 years ago, the golden age of British bio-science
which followed it, the successful growth of the UK biotech industry and
the international scientific co-operation which, over the last 50 years,
has developed molecular biology to the point where it has penetrated the
whole of biology.
Each of these events and developments is worthy of celebration in its
own right and I would like to thank the Royal Society, Nature and the
Medical Research Council both for orchestrating the celebrations that
are taking place in the UK and for hosting this magnificent dinner.
The 20th Century saw an extraordinary transformation of scientific
status, economic importance and public visibility of biology. This
transformation began half a century ago when Jim Watson and Francis
Crick, working at the time in Cambridge, discovered, using crucial data
produced by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin in London, the
structure of DNA. Their brief paper describing the structure in the
journal, Nature, has since become, of course, one of the most famous in
the history of 20th-century science. The discovery of the structure of
DNA was a brilliant and creative piece of science and is an enduring
reminder that the most important breakthroughs in science are the result
of human curiosity and the pleasure of finding things out, and that
science cannot deliver results of value to society in areas where the
basic science is not well understood. If therefore we want to maximise
the benefits of science we must always maintain a strong basic
scientific research capability.
Tonight we honour not only the creativity and skill of Jim Watson,
Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, but also the many
scientists across the world whose original and brilliant work has
transformed biology in the last 50 years.
At the time, the discovery of the structure of DNA was just one of a
number of "firsts" and was not generally recognized even by
the scientific community for the enormous potential it would have for
the future. As a small boy at the time I probably accurately reflected
the views of the British public by being more interested in the ascent
of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, in the end of sugar
rationing and in the publication of Ian Fleming's first James Bond book,
Casino Royale.
But the past half-century has truly been the era of DNA, with the
identification of the genetic code in the 1960s, recombinant DNA and DNA
sequencing in the 1970s, biotechnology and the polymerase chain reaction
in the 1980s and the human genome project in the 1990s. In this
extraordinary burst of scientific activity British scientists have
played a key role. It is a great tribute to the vision of the Medical
Research Council and the creativity of British scientists, that in the
50 years since the discovery of the structure of DNA British Scientists
have been awarded with 46 Nobel prizes, over two-thirds of which were
for physiology or medicine and chemistry, and 13 of which went to
scientists working at the MRC's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in
Cambridge.
As well as producing 50 years of exciting science, the discovery of
the structure of DNA has also given birth to a new industry, the modern
biotechnology industry, in which the UK is one of the world's leaders.
Because of the strength of our science base, the UK biotechnology
industry is the largest in Europe and second globally only to the USA.
Today in the UK, there are over 400 companies whose core activities
depend on biotechnology with the revenues in 2001 of over £1.8billion.
Forty-eight of the UK biotech businesses are publicly quoted, the
largest number of any country in Europe and UK companies account for 62%
of the product in Phase III clinical trials in Europe.
Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the international
co-operation, which has played such a major part in the advances made in
molecular biology in the last fifty years. Last week the heads of
government of the six countries, who collaborated on the human genome
project, China, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US, issued a
joint statement marking the completion of this ambitious scientific
project. The data produced by the project is now freely available
without constraints on the worldwide web and is already transforming
much of medical research.
The UK work on the sequencing of the human genome was done at the
Wellcome Trust's Sanger Institute. Originally committed to sequencing
one-sixth of the human genome, the Wellcome Trust increased its
investment in 1998 to allow the Institute to decode one-third of the
genome. Just one part of this work, the sequencing of chromosome 20, has
already accelerated the research for genes in diabetes, leukemia and
childhood eczema and I would like to take the opportunity which this
dinner presents to highlight the huge and creative contribution that the
Wellcome Trust has made in recent years to life sciences research in the
UK. It is a contribution that is greatly valued by both the Government
and British scientists.
The events of 1953 have reached across half a century to affect all
of our lives. Fifty years on new and exciting implications of that
profound discovery are continuing to emerge. If, however, we are to reap
the full benefits, which this discovery opens up, we must also address
the fundamental, and often difficult, ethical issues that have emerged.
These issues range from the use of genetic tests by insurance companies
to how we store and control access to genetic information, the genetic
screening of embryos and IVF, and the fears that companies by patenting
genes will come to own life itself. It is crucial that these issues are
addressed and that we move away from a one-way provision of information
to the public and towards an engagement and dialogue on the values,
benefits and risks of scientific advances. At the same time I agree with
Jim Watson's wise words: " If there is a paramount ethical issue
attending the vast new genetic knowledge created by the human genome
project, in my view, it is the slow pace at which what we now know is
being deployed to diminish human suffering."
I don't believe that we discuss enough the suffering and
environmental damage that is caused by holding back innovation. We are
too complacent about the imperfect present. There are huge improvements
to be gained in the quality of our lives and we must make certain that
they are realized as soon as possible for the benefit of everyone.
The need for dialogue is the reason why the Government has introduced
two new bodies, the Human Genetics Commission and the Agriculture and
Environment Biotechnology Commission, why we have increased the
transparency of our advisory committees, and why public consultation and
dialogue is a key part of the DNA celebrations.
The science has come a long way since the original paper in Nature on
25th April 1953, and I am delighted to have the opportunity this evening
to celebrate the brilliant discovery of the structure of DNA 50 years
ago, the golden age of British bio-science which followed, the
successful growth of the UK biotech industry and the international
co-operation which has made it all possible.
The discovery of the structure of DNA has already had a major impact
on our lives, and without any doubt the next 50 years, will see both
exciting developments in the science and great progress in the fight
against illness and disease. What form that impact will take we can only
imperfectly see today, but what we can be certain about is that in the
future, long after other famous events of 1953 have been forgotten,
whether it is the death of Stalin or the end of the Korean War, 1953
will long be remembered as the year in which the double helix was
discovered.
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