Amazed Boffins Probe Ozzy's Genetic Code

[Loki]

Amazed Boffins Probe Ozzy's Genetic Code (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbiz-News/Ozzy-Osbournes-Genes-Mapped-To-Find-Out-How-Hes-Still-Alive-After-Drink-And-Drug-Abuse/Article/201006215648812)

7:26am UK, Wednesday June 16, 2010
Elizabeth Scott, Sky News Online

Scientists are to map Ozzy Osbourne's genetic code in a bid to find out how he is still alive after decades of drug and alcohol abuse.

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Jun/Week2/15648836.jpg

The former Black Sabbath frontman is only one of a few people in the world to have his full genome analysed.

It is hoped the results from the £27,000 test, which takes three months, will provide information on how drugs are absorbed in the body.

Ozzy, 61, has lived a life that would presumably kill any ordinary person.

Even the singer himself cannot understand how he has survived this long, recently describing himself as a "medical miracle" after going on a "bender" for "40 years".

He has admitted drinking four bottles of cognac a day at one point, "blacking out, coming to again and carrying on".

Ozzy famously bit the head off a bat on stage and in 2003 broke his neck in a quad bike accident.

He also has a genetic disorder similar to Parkinson's disease and on at least one occasion has been committed to a mental institution.

Despite all his excesses, he is still with wife Sharon, who he once tried to strangle, and the couple have three grown-up children.

Now he may get some answers from US company Knome, which will use a blood sample to map his genome.

Nathan Pearson, director of research at the firm, said: "Sequencing and analysing individuals with extreme medical histories provides the greatest potential scientific value."

The results will hopefully help scientists understand why the bodies of hard-living rockers such as Ozzy, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Iggy Pop are able to take more substance abuse than the average person.

[Loki]

And he has done some crazy shit (http://snarkerati.com/celebrity-gossip/ozzy-osbourne-talks-about-getting-hooked-on-cocaine/):




The singer said that he became hooked on cocaine the moment he first tried it, because he thought that he had found the meaning of life. He said that he bought kilos of heroin and coke at a time, but it’s not as addictive as cigarettes.

He said, “The first time I tried cocaine, I remember thinking, ‘I’ve found the meaning of life!’ But then I loved morphine and everything else, too. At my worst, I was buying kilos of the stuff every week. That said, by far the most addictive thing I’ve ever put in my body is tobacco. By the end, I was chewing the gum, smoking the fake cigarettes, wearing the patches, and smoking 20 a day. I tried cigars but within a week I was smoking 30 Cohibas a day, and inhaling. Now I don’t do anything anymore. I got bored of always being f**ked up on something or other.

He also went on to reveal that living in the lap of luxury, that contributed to his bad habits. He added, “I could get drunk morning, noon, and night, and nobody would care. There isn’t another job in the world where you can turn up p**sed as a wheel and not get fired.”

[Curtis24]

I think most human beings in general can endure more abuse than the medical establishment thinks.

I should probaby sign up for one of these studies..

[Pallantides]

Ozzy should get a 23andMe kit, I want to know how much we share in 'genome wide comparsion':D

[Eldritch]

I'd say the answer to why he is still alive isn't in his genes as much as it is in the fact that his handlers (record company executives, managers and that horrid wife of his) figured it's worth the investment to keep him alive.