CNRS UPR 420 Laboratoire GENETHON
Genetique Moleculaire et Genexpress
Biologie du Developpement 1, rue de l'Internationale
7, rue Guy Mocquet BP 8 91002 EVRY cedex
94801 VILLEJUIF cedex FRANCE
FRANCE tel. 33 1 69 47 29 65
tel. 33 1 49 58 11 11 fax.33 1 60 77 86 98
fax. 33 1 45 58 11 22
29 January 1993
Dear Colleague,
The first part of the catalog of human gene transcripts assembled by
the Genexpress cDNA sequencing program (GENETHON, France) has been
presented to the French Academie des Sciences by its Secretaire
General, Pr. Francois GROS, on 6 July 1992.
All these partial cDNA sequences which correspond to unique, previously
unidentified sequences are deposited in the EMBL Data Library as they
are isolated, and are available for public access as a service to the
world scientific community. There are presently 2723 such entries in
the EMBL sequence database.
In addition, the existing catalog of cDNA sequences was deposited in
the hands of UNESCO's Director General, Dr. Federico Mayor, during an
official ceremony on 28 October 1992. On this occasion, I expressed the
concern of a large number of scientists world-wide concerning attempts
to control basic knowledge, and put forward a Declaration, the text of
which is attached.
All those who wish to express their support of this Declaration are
invited to add their name, address and signature to the Declaration and
return it to me. The list of signatures collected by the end of
February will be published in Nature.
Charles AUFFRAY
Directeur de Recherche au CNRS
Directeur Scientifique
Genexpress
Laboratoire GENETHON
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Declaration to UNESCO - October 28th, 1992
We declare that all basic information derived from the study of the
genomes of human, animals, plants and other model organisms (sequences,
physical and genetic maps) are part of our human scientific heritage
and should therefore be made accessible to the entire scientific
community in international electronic databases as soon as possible
after their description.
We invite all those who hold such data to follow this recommendation
and our institutions and governments to enforce and implement it, by
law and international agreement if necessary.
UNESCO is request to act in order to protect these data against the
dangers of monopolization, for the benefit of mankind.
Name:
Address:
Signature:
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