Race Has No Meaning Genetically, Researchers Say

CNN.com Science/News | Tuesday, December 17,2002 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Race not reflected in genes, study says

Tuesday, December 17, 2002 Posted: 10:17 AM EST (1517 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The idea of race is not reflected in a person's genes, Brazilian researchers said, confirming what scientists have long said -- that race has no meaning genetically.

The Brazilian researchers looked at one of the most racially mixed populations in the world for their study, which found there is no way to look at someone's genes and determine his or her race. Brazilians include people of European, African and Indian, or Amerindian, descent.

"There is wide agreement among anthropologists and human geneticists that, from a biological standpoint, human races do not exist," Sergio Pena and colleagues at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil and the University of Porto in Portugal wrote in their report, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Yet races do exist as social constructs," they said.

They found 10 gene variations that could reliably tell apart, genetically, 20 men from northern Portugal and 20 men from Sao Tome island on the west coast of Africa.

But the genetic differences did not have anything to do with physical characteristics such as skin or hair color, the researchers found.

They next tested two groups -- 173 Brazilians classified as white, black, or intermediate based on arm skin color, hair color, and nose and lip shape, and 200 men living in major metropolitan areas who classified themselves as white.

They used the 10 genetic markers that differed between people from Portugal and Africa, but found little difference among anyone in their study.

To their surprise, they found maternal DNA suggested that even the "white" people had, on average, 33 percent of genes that were of Amerindian ancestry and 28 percent African.

This suggested European men often fathered children with black and Indian women.

"It is interesting to note that the group of individuals classified as blacks had a very high proportion of non-African ancestry (48 percent)," they wrote.

"In essence our data indicate that, in Brazil as a whole, color is a weak predictor of African ancestry," they concluded.

"Our study makes clear the hazards of equating color or race with geographical ancestry and using interchangeably terms such as white, Caucasian and European on one hand, and black, Negro or African on the other, as is often done in scientific and medical literature."

[widowithfoursons]

AHA! Now we can get past ethnicity for good, and affirm once and for all that G-d is colorblind. Merry Christmas!

[joesnuffy]

Tell it to the Japanese ....BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[joesnuffy]

IF GOD is colorblind....then why did HE make different races?

[ArrogantBustard]

There are a few groups right here in these (sort of) United States of America who need to hear this message, too. Even some on this forum.

[jlogajan]

Strictly speaking, nothing has any meaning genetically speaking. Genetics just are.

However, it is absurd on its face to say that skin color is not genetic. Otherwise babies would be born with random skin colors, regardless of parental skin color, etc.

Politics and religion should be kept out of science. They just corrupt and debase things.

[r9etb]

And yet racial characteristics "breed true," in the sense that you don't see to many Nordic blondes being born to members of the Masai, and vice versa -- and also in the sense that the characteristics of the parents show up in their mixed-race kids.

So the title of the story seems wrong to begin with -- and is confirmed to be wrong by the body: They found 10 gene variations that could reliably tell apart, genetically, 20 men from northern Portugal and 20 men from Sao Tome island on the west coast of Africa.

IOW, "skin color" does not define the genetic difference -- something else does.

But racial differences are observably genetic, regardless.

[Cyber Liberty]

"Race not reflected in genes, study says"

Tell that to people who suffer from Sickle-Cell Anemia or Tay Sachs....

[widowithfoursons]

He also set the borders of the nations. What men want to create is another Tower of Babel. God looks ONLY at the heart, and could care less what color we are.

[FreedomFlyer]

"To their surprise, they found maternal DNA suggested that even the "white" people had, on average, 33 percent of genes that were of Amerindian ancestry and 28 percent African."

---

So there are no racial genetic differences but there are genetic differences between African and Amerindian ancestry. This is nonsense.

[taxed2death]

White men can't jump?

[Dan Day]

The Brazilian researchers looked at one of the most racially mixed populations in the world for their study, which found there is no way to look at someone's genes and determine his or her race.

Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you wanted to look for the genetic markers for race, wouldn't you want to look at and then compare the *least* racially mixed populations? That way the differences would stand out most clearly, and not be muddled by generations of mixing.

[Bluntpoint]

"IF GOD is colorblind....then why did HE make different races?"

If God didn't want the races to stay the homogeneous, why did he not give them the ability to interbreed.

Oh, nevermind!

[AppyPappy]

DING

[AppyPappy]

IF GOD is colorblind....then why did HE make different races?

He didn't. Just pigments which actually the SUN did that.

[Bluntpoint]

Can you see where some of these people are coming from?

"Jesus loves the little children, if their mommy and daddy are the same race."

[Stingray51]

Right, and there is also a whole new (?) area of research having to do with non-genetic proteins that pass on characteristics between generations. Or something like that. I am scientifically illiterate but perhaps somebody here remembers reading about this and can elucidate.

[Bluntpoint]

I am scientifically literate : Mom married dad.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Yes, race has no meaning genetically. This is why black people routinely give birth to white people, why white people routinely give birth to yellow people, and why hispanics routinely give birth to blacks. You see, it's true! Race has no meaning genetically!

And, in further news from the Bolshevik Science Academy, green is really blue, 2+2 actually equals seven, and gravity is a reactionary, racist force that only has an effect on those who don't truly believe in the people's revolution.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled brainwashing, already in progress....