[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 16 (Monday, April 21, 2003)]
[Page 440]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Joint Proclamation by the Heads of Government of Six Countries Regarding 
the Completion of the Human Genome Sequence

April 14, 2003

    We, the Heads of Government of the United States of America, the 
United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, and China, are proud to announce 
that scientists from our six countries have completed the essential 
sequence of three billion base pairs of DNA of the human genome, the 
molecular instruction book of human life.
    Remarkable advances in genetic science and technology have been made 
in the five decades since the landmark discovery of the double-helix 
structure of DNA in April 1953. Now, in the very month and year of the 
50th anniversary of that important discovery by Watson and Crick, the 
International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium has completed decoding 
all the chapters of the instruction book of human life. This information 
is now freely available to the world without constraints via public 
databases on the World Wide Web.
    This genetic sequence provides us with the fundamental platform for 
understanding ourselves, from which revolutionary progress will be made 
in biomedical sciences and in the health and welfare of humankind. Thus, 
we take today an important step toward establishing a healthier future 
for all the peoples of the globe, for whom the human genome serves as a 
common inheritance.
    We congratulate all the people who participated in this project on 
their creativity and dedication. Their outstanding work will be noted in 
the history of science and technology, and as well in the history of 
humankind, as a landmark achievement.
    We encourage the world to celebrate the scientific achievement of 
completing the Human Genome Project, and we exhort the scientific and 
medical communities to rededicate themselves to the utilization of these 
new discoveries to reduce human suffering.

 His Excellency
    Jacques Chirac,
         President of the French Republic.

 The Honorable
    George Bush,
         President of the United States of America.

 The Right Honorable
    Tony Blair, M.P.,
         Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

 His Excellency
    Gerhard Schroeder,
         Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

 His Excellency
    Junichiro Koizumi,
         Prime Minister of Japan.

 His Excellency
    WEN Jiabao,
         Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint proclamation.