The goals of the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) sound laudable: By taking DNA samples from the world's indigenous peoples, scientists will be able to document the amazing diversity -- and interconnectedness -- of human beings. Plus, any unique genes discovered -- such as the heart-attack-resistant genes that were found in the residents of an isolated Italian community -- could help fight disease.

But HGDP critics fear that the massive multinational project, which is underway in several countries, is at the least misguided and at worst, dangerous. The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) calls the venture 'biopiracy,' likening it to widescale plundering by drug companies of medicinal plants and healing lore from indigenous communities, who see none of the profits from the quickly patented plants or resultant drugs. In RAFI's May/June 1995 communique, the group notes that scientists and their corporate partners are already pursuing gene patents in a race within the 'genomic industry' to claim and commercialize genetic material. For example, a California genomics company hopes to patent an asthma gene from samples collected from the people of Tristan da Cunha, a tiny island near Brazil where asthma rates are high. So far, the benefits doled out to residents include a machine that tells them if they've got asthma.

RAFI also worries that the projected $30 million project will divert foreign aid funds that could be better used for critical health concerns such as access to clean water, food, and vaccinations. Worse, knowledge of a peoples' unique genes could be used to develop equally unique biological weapons.