Editing James Watson (section)

===Human Genome Project===
[[File:James Dewey Watson.jpg|thumb|Watson in 1992]]
In 1990, Watson was appointed as the head of the [[Human Genome Project]] at the [[National Institutes of Health]], a position he held until April 10, 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nih.gov/about/almanac/organization/NHGRI.htm|title=National Human Genome Research Institute – Organization – The NIH Almanac – National Institutes of Health (NIH)|access-date=June 29, 2015}}</ref> Watson left the Genome Project after conflicts with the new [[National Institutes of Health|NIH]] Director, [[Bernadine Healy]]. Watson was opposed to Healy's attempts to acquire patents on gene sequences, and any ownership of the "laws of nature". Two years before stepping down from the Genome Project, he had stated his own opinion on this long and ongoing controversy which he saw as an illogical barrier to research; he said, "The nations of the world must see that the human genome belongs to the world's people, as opposed to its nations." He left within weeks of the 1992 announcement that the NIH would be applying for patents on brain-specific cDNAs.<ref name="pollack">[[Robert Pollack (biologist)|Pollack, R.]] 1994. ''Signs of Life: The Language and Meanings of DNA''. Houghton Mifflin, page 95. {{ISBN|0-395-73530-0}}.</ref> (The issue of the patentability of genes has since been resolved in the US by the [[US Supreme Court]]; see ''[[Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office]]''.)

In 1994, Watson became president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. [[Francis Collins (geneticist)|Francis Collins]] took over the role as director of the Human Genome Project.

Watson was quoted in ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]'' in 1997 as stating: "If you could find the gene which determines sexuality and a woman decides she doesn't want a homosexual child, well, let her."<ref>Macdonald, V. "Abort babies with gay genes, says Nobel winner", ''The Telegraph'', February 16, 1997. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.</ref> The biologist [[Richard Dawkins]] wrote a letter to ''The Independent'' claiming that Watson's position was misrepresented by ''The Sunday Telegraph'' article, and that Watson would equally consider the possibility of having a heterosexual child to be just as valid as any other reason for abortion, to emphasise that Watson is in favor of allowing choice.<ref>{{cite news| last = Dawkins | first = Richard | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letter-women-to-decide-on-gay-abortion-1279433.html | title = Letter: Women to decide on gay abortion | newspaper = The Independent | date = February 19, 1997 | access-date = October 24, 2007 | location=London}}</ref>

On the issue of obesity, Watson was quoted in 2000, saying: "Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them."<ref name="chronicle">Abate, T. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/11/13/MN111208.DTL "Nobel Winner's Theories Raise Uproar in Berkeley Geneticist's views strike many as racist, sexist"], ''San Francisco Chronicle'', November 13, 2000. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.</ref>

Watson has repeatedly supported [[Genetic testing|genetic screening]] and [[genetic engineering]] in public lectures and interviews, arguing that stupidity is a disease and the "really stupid" bottom 10% of people should be cured.<ref name="newscientist">Bhattacharya, S. [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3451 "Stupidity should be cured, says DNA discoverer"], ''New Scientist'', February 28, 2003. Retrieved June 24, 2007.</ref> He has also suggested that beauty could be genetically engineered, saying in 2003, "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great."<ref name="newscientist"/><ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/07/AR2007110702609.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | first=Susan P. | last=Williams | title=The Foot-in-Mouth Gene | date=November 8, 2007}}</ref>

In 2007, Watson became the second person<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/science/01gene.html "Genome of DNA Discoverer Is Deciphered"]. ''The New York Times'', June 1, 2007.</ref> to publish his fully sequenced genome online,<ref>[http://jimwatsonsequence.cshl.edu/ "James Watson genotypes, on NCBI B36 assembly"]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705140214/http://jimwatsonsequence.cshl.edu/ |date=July 5, 2008}}</ref> after it was presented to him on May 31, 2007, by [[454 Life Sciences]] Corporation<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Wheeler | first1 = D. A. | last2 = Srinivasan | first2 = M. | last3 = Egholm | first3 = M. | last4 = Shen | first4 = Y. | last5 = Chen | first5 = L. | last6 = McGuire | first6 = A. | last7 = He | first7 = W. | last8 = Chen | first8 = Y. J. | last9 = Makhijani | first9 = V. | last10 = Roth | first10 = G. T.| last11 = Gomes | first11 = X.| last12 = Tartaro | first12 = K.| last13 = Niazi | first13 = F.| last14 = Turcotte | first14 = C. L.| last15 = Irzyk | first15 = G. P.| last16 = Lupski | first16 = J. R.| last17 = Chinault | first17 = C.| last18 = Song | first18 = X.-Z.| last19 = Liu | first19 = Y.| last20 = Yuan | first20 = Y.| last21 = Nazareth | first21 = L.| last22 = Qin | first22 = X.| last23 = Muzny | first23 = D. M.| last24 = Margulies | first24 = M.| last25 = Weinstock | first25 = G. M.| last26 = Gibbs | first26 = R. A.| last27 = Rothberg | first27 = J. M.| doi = 10.1038/nature06884 | title = The complete genome of an individual by massively parallel DNA sequencing | journal = Nature | volume = 452 | issue = 7189 | pages = 872–876 | year = 2008 | pmid = 18421352|bibcode = 2008Natur.452..872W | doi-access = free}}</ref> in collaboration with scientists at the Human Genome Sequencing Center, [[Baylor College of Medicine]]. Watson was quoted as saying, "I am putting my genome sequence on line to encourage the development of an era of [[personalized medicine]], in which information contained in our genomes can be used to identify and prevent disease and to create individualized medical therapies".<ref>Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, June 28, 2003. [http://www.cshl.edu/public/releases/07_genotype_viewer.html "Watson Genotype Viewer Now On Line"]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205230609/http://www.cshl.edu/public/releases/07_genotype_viewer.html |date=December 5, 2007}}. Press release. Retrieved on September 16, 2007.</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20120803192155/http://jimwatsonsequence.cshl.edu/cgi-perl/gbrowse/jwsequence/?name=Sequence:NM_005516.3 "James Watson's Personal Genome Sequence"]</ref><ref>[http://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pub/TraceDB/Personal_Genomics/ Watson's personal DNA sequence archive at the National Institutes of Health]</ref>