Hoping to give medical research a big push forward, the Harvard University Medical School made the personal genetic information of the volunteers involved in its Personal Genome Project available online to any Web surfer.

Ten explorers led by a Harvard Medical School genetics professor posted today their genome information and the DNA sequence of about one-fifth of their genes on www.personalgenomes.org for all to see. The list of the first 10 volunteers includes the genetics professor George Church, Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker and technology investor Esther Dyson. The first three are hoping many more volunteers will follow their example.

The "Personal Genome Project," an assignment led by Professor Church, received the OK from the university's ethical review board to post the genes and records of 100,000 willing subjects to boost research in the genetics field by making more and more genetic information open and widely available to the public.

Harvard University will decode the DNA of volunteers for free if they agree to make the data available online. The data that is posted online includes photographs, histories of illnesses, traits, allergies, ethnic backgrounds, etc.

The experts behind this project hope to increase research in the field genetics by getting rid of the elaborate precautions usually taken to protect the privacy of human subjects.

“We don’t yet know the consequences of having one’s genome out in the open. But it’s worth exploring,” said Mr. Church, the project leader.

However, although it seems a good idea, the project will easily raise some eyebrows and face some problems. Anyone who makes its genetic data available could be denied life insurance, long-term care insurance or disability insurance, if it has what health insurance companies don’t want. And that is just one example.

An what about the first-degree relatives who don’t want you to display your genetic information because the share half of what you have?