If you want paper to print science journals on years and years from now (believe it or not, a practice that still continues), you’ve got to plant the trees you need today. Likewise, if you want new results to put on those pages decades hence, you start collecting data now. That’s the idea behind the UK Biobank Project, which expects to begin looking for 500,000 volunteers aged 45 to 69 to provide a DNA sample and confidential health information in 18 months time. The Biobank is a joint project between the Medical Research Council (MRC),the Wellcome Trust (WT) and the UK Department of Health’s (DoH) Human Genetics Commission (HGC). The project is intended to examine the complex interaction between genes, environment and lifestyle by gathering data and tracking the health of those taking part for up to 30 years. Director Dr. John Newton hopes that it will lead to vital discoveries which may save thousands of lives. “It is the equivalent of planting the shade trees for the next generation, and as such is inevitably going to be criticised by those that think there are more pressing short term needs.”

The Commons Science and Technology Committee has expressed doubts about the wisdom of the project, claiming it may drain scarce resources away from other research for no guaranteed gain. However, Biobank is slated to never cost more than approximately 1% of the total UK budget for medical research. The pressure group GeneWatch UK has called for an independent review of the project.

Dr. Newton is currently engaged in a sales job to allay various fears about the project. “All participants will be volunteers and will be kept fully informed of the project as it progresses. They will be free to withdraw at any point. Information provided by them will be confidential and samples and data will be held in an anonymised form and stored in accordance with the highest possible security and encryption standards. Samples and DNA will be stored centrally under the control of Biobank at all times. They will not be released to third parties, and will only be used for the stated purposes of the project: that is, for biomedical research and the public interest.” These are, of course, all issues that have been addressed by a similar program that has yielded major scientific insights in Iceland.