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Return on Investment for the HGP

While the US government invested a hefty sum — $14.5 billion between 1988 and 2012 — in the Human Genome Project, it has reaped $59 billion in tax revenue and $965 billion in economic impact, Bloomberg reports. A new report from United for Medical Research and Battelle further indicates that the investment has lead to 53,000 genomics-related jobs and $293 billion in personal income.

"As the largest, single undertaking in the history of life sciences, the Human Genome Project has paid back extraordinary dividends on the US government's investment," said Carrie Wolinetz, president of United for Medical Research, in a statement.

As GenomeWeb Daily News notes, this report builds on a 2011 one from Battelle that showed $796 billion in economic output. Batelle Group Leader Martin Grueber, a co-author of the current report tells GWDN that the effect of the federal investment in genomics will continue to felt. "You are still going to get these impacts going forward as you look at the lineage of this effort, and the lineage of the research as it is applied in new ways in research, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, energy, agriculture, and other applications," he says.