The Danger To India

NOW that India is acknowledged a genetic hotspot, gene hunters and pharmaceutical companies are aiming their guns at it. For instance, Kiren Kucheria, a geneticist at AIIMS, Delhi, claims she was offered $20,000 for blood samples from two patients suspected of having a translocated gene (a gene that has switched places with another on a different chromosome) for mullerian ductagenesis, a disorder marked by the absence of a uterus. "A lot of blood and DNA samples from tribes and clinically identified people are leaving India without any permission," says Suman Sahai, a geneticist leading the Gene Campaign movement. "They will eventually become raw material for a pharmaceutical company without our people getting any benefit." In fact, many scientists may now be scrambling to get their hands on Indian genetic material before a legal clampdown. K. Suresh Singh, who just retired as chief of the Anthropological Survey of India, says he has had to reject many field study proposals from abroad. Till recently, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was the only agency that vetted projects involving Indian genetic material. Now the Health Ministry has agreed to include all other projects. But I.C. Verma, a geneticist at AIIMS, is sceptical: "You must be joking. Where has law been enforced in this country?" The Health Ministry is also guilty  of inconsistency. While it asks for a ban on export of genetic material, it has allowed a US transnational, called ProGene, to set up a chain of genetic testing centres in Indian cities. The $140 million company runs similar facilities in the US, Korea, Vietnam and France. It will initially invest about Rs 16 crore in India.

The DBT has agreed to ProGene's proposal on the condition that samples will not be exported abroad, said Manju Sharma, DBT secretary. The company dismissed fears about the export of Indian genetic material, saying all samples after testing will be destroyed. But that's hard to believe for there is no way you can find out.

A genetic test here would cost about $150-200. The same test costs about $600-700 in the US. The tests to be offered by the company include HIV/AIDS, cancer markers, hepatitis and inherited metabolic disorders such as diabetes mellitus. The tests, also called genetic screening, would look for stretches of our DNA that predispose some to a particular disorder such as hypertension or breast cancer. If the test turns out to be positive, the patient could be advised to follow an appropriate lifestyle to keep the potential disease at bay.

Interestingly, sensing that there is lots of money in it, the DBT is funding six genetic counselling centres, including one at AIIMS. The other centres will be in Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Shillong and Agartala.