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Strange barrier to medical genetics
Orfilio Peláez
WHEN
the human genetic code was deciphered relatively
recently, it was a leap of infinite magnitude in the
long and complex road to understanding the origin of
many diseases with a high incidence in the world’s
population.
That
celebrated event made it possible for science to
have in its hands the tools for understanding how
genes intervene in and regulate the functions of the
body’s cells and tissue, something was just an
impossible dream for medicine in the early 20th
century.
The
extremely high level of professionalism among Cuban
specialists and a health system at the service of
the people’s well-being place our country in a
position to carry out the same kinds of genetic
studies as First World countries.
However, the economic, commercial and financial
blockade imposed by the U.S. government since 1962
deprives us of access to the most advanced
technology in this very promising field, which
considerably limits the investigative work of the
National Center for Medical Genetics.
Doctor Beatriz Marcheco, director of the
institution, told Granma daily
that since 2003, and through the various relevant
channels, they have attempted to acquire a gene
analysis machine, essential for studying their
variations and determining which can lead to the
appearance of a group of diseases that are among the
leading causes of death in Cuba, or that have a high
incidence.
These diseases include breast, colon and prostate
cancer; asthma, diabetes mellitus, ischemic
cardiopathies and high blood pressure, to list a
few.
According to the young scientists, the analyzer is
made by a U.S. company, Applied Biosystems, and
classifies as the most advanced technology in the
world for the abovementioned research.
That
machine, she said, works extremely fast and is
capable of identifying the genetic predisposition of
individuals to the abovementioned pathologies. This
provides an opportunity for changing lifestyles and
other preventive actions aimed at avoiding these
conditions.
Dr.
Marchecho finds it absurd that every time we ask for
the machine, the answer from U.S. government
authorities has always been silence; in other words,
they have no arguments whatsoever to explain why
they are refusing to sell us a product whose noble
and sole function is to help protect the people’s
health.
“We
don’t even have the right to enter the company’s web
page to obtain information, because access is
immediately denied when they see that the interested
party is in Cuba,” she said.
The
following examples illustrate the impact of not
having the gene analyzer. A study undertaken by the
Medical Genetics Center on the predisposition to
different types of dementia among the Cuban
population, including Alzheimer’s, took two years.
With the machine, the study would have taken one
week.
The
irrational barrier also prevents thousands of
families from benefiting from these types of
evaluations, aimed at discovering whether any of
their members are prone to developing certain
malignant tumors or chronic diseases, including high
blood pressure and diabetes. There is no question
that the social and economic cost of this inhumane
practice is enormous.
Translated by Granma International
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