CIENCIASMEDICASNEWS: BioEdge: I’m glad I’m part Neanderthal

domingo, 23 de octubre de 2016

BioEdge: I’m glad I’m part Neanderthal

BioEdge: I’m glad I’m part Neanderthal

Bioedge

I’m glad I’m part Neanderthal

by Michael Cook | 22 Oct 2016 | 4 comments

Do-it-yourself genetic testing with 23andMe.com can be useful for discovering susceptibilities to genetic diseases and for research into ancestry. What no one anticipated was that it would be popular amongst white supremacists in the United States.

A Vice journalist, Elspeth Reeve, spoke to a number of white supremacists and alt-right trolls who are conducting conversations on the internet about their ancestry. People are posting screenshots of the results of their tests to prove how white they are. As she points out, “if you believe in the superiority of European culture and white people, then it follows that one of the most important facts you should establish is that you are white yourself.”

As one poster said, “We alt-right types may have more at stake in our genetic results than the average deracinated Western white.”

What they value as “white genes”, however, can be a bit puzzling. There are disputes over whether Finns or Russians are “white”. And when 23andMe started to release the percentage of Neanderthal genes, the reaction was “counterintuitive”:

In an article for GeneWatch, published by the Council on Responsible Genetics, Keel noted “Just days after the discovery of the Neanderthal genome,” Stormfront commenters “claimed Neanderthal DNA was responsible for the ‘intellectual supremacy’ and ‘physical prowess’ of Europeans.”

It’s hard to distinguish between what the trolls really think and what is mere trolling. But the existence of unexpected genetic backgrounds has sparked theories that 23andMe is rigging the results. The entry for 23andMe on the racist conspiracy site Rightpedia claims, “This company likes to give people of European descent about a 1% nonwhite mongrelization, usually Subsaharan African. They’re really just finding DNA common amongst all races of humans and assigning it as black.” 23andMe’s response? “We can unequivocally deny that. 100 percent.”

We goofed and we're eating humble pie. Wednesday, October 19, was World Bioethics Day. I'm afraid that it passed unnoticed at BioEdge, perhaps because every day is World Bioethics Day here. But was also the first time it was celebrated, so we shall be better prepared next year.

However, it appears that very few people were popping champagne bottles in the UK and US even though they must have the larges number of bioethicists. No events were planned in the United Kingdom, only one in the US, and 29 in India. World-wide, there were events in 55 countries, most on the theme of the Day, "human dignity and human rights".