Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2001
ISSN
0028-4793
Publisher
Massachusetts Medical Society
Language
en-US
Abstract
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 code “the language in which God created life.” The metaphors we use to describe a thing profoundly affect how we think about it. A variety of metaphors have been used to describe human DNA, including “the book of life,” the “book of man,” “the holy grail of biology,” and the “blueprint of life.”
Recommended Citation
George J. Annas,
The Limits of State Laws to Protect Genetic Information
,
in
345
New England Journal of Medicine
385
(2001).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1275
Comments
From The New England Journal of Medicine, George J. Annas, The Limits of State Laws to Protect Genetic Information, Volume 345, Page 385 Copyright ©(2001) Massachusetts Medical Society. Reprinted with permission.