Attempt to locate and map more than 100,000 human genes and their 3,000,000 nucleotide bases by 2005. The global project began formally in 1990, supported in the US by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy—the latter showing earlier antecedents in studies of radiation and genetic impact. The project has increased genetic knowledge and also has identified specific contributors to hereditary diseases like cystic fibrosis and colon cancer. Five percent of the budget has been set aside to consider ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) that will arise. Many are concerned with the alteration of genes as well as the meaning of the identification of defective genes in a given population that would make them susceptible to discrimination. Annual US costs rose from $27.9 million (1988) to $303.2 million (1998) as the project accelerated completion to June 2000