Discussing the Swiss debate on human genome analysis presents us with something of a paradox. On the one hand, Switzerland has long had a flourishing biomedical research enterprise, thanks to a strong base of fundamental and applied research, both in institutions of higher learning and among the Swiss pharmaceutical companies. The magnitude of the research base is greater than the size of the country would suggest; also the impact of this research (as judged for instance by citation analysis) stands out in international comparisons. Furthermore, molecular biology has always been a strong point within Swiss biomedical research. Therefore, Swiss scientists have made, and continue to make, significant, high-quality contributions to the scientific base that undergirds human genome analysis, even though there is no specific organized genome program as such. On the other hand, the level of public awareness and the quality, of public debate about these issues seem more problematic. In the absence of any official or widely visible forum for debating bioethical issues, it is not easy to know what the Swiss debate consists of! In any event, there may be little that is "Swiss-specific" in the topic itself. What does make an examination of the Swiss situation interesting is not so much the contents of the debate as such, which will be repetitious to some ex­tent when compared with other countries, but the particular political focus provided by the peculiarities of the Swiss political system.