Oh no. The fact that most AA live in urban centers has nothing to do with it. Also, multiply the years of working in very de-humanizing conditions (I do not think Blacks in early Americana worked next for "Fred" or "Bob" at the local bank). No, that would have nothing to do with it.

Why not study why there is a high prevalence of Cancer among white Americans. Yes, a lot of them have Cancer. Or CHF? My grandparents on my Mothers and Fathers side both lived in their 90s to 108. No Asthma, CHF, or Diabetes. I guess my AA family was missed on this survey. Millions of Americans have Asthma, just as people do around the World. I have not, in my lifetime, meet a significant number of Black Americans that have Asthma, so I honestly have no clue what these people are talking about. I personally think its a bunch of BS, like a large majority of kids being diagnosed as ADD now-adays. Just money to billed the Insurance companies for and make healthcare a billion dollar industry!!!!

Starfox says: "I have not, in my lifetime, meet a significant number of Black Americans that have Asthma, so I honestly have no clue what these people are talking about. I personally think its a bunch of BS,..."

First you say what they found is outside your experience.

Then you say you have no clue what the study is talking about. Well, that makes sense. You are unlikely to appreciate what the study is talking about if what they found is outside your experience.

Then you say you think what they are talking about is nonsense (or "BS" as you put it).

If what the study talks about is outside your experience, then it is rather absurd to conclude that the conclusions are nonsense.

A study of logic would improve your life enormously.

No comment.

U.S. researchers have discovered a genetic mutation unique to African Americans that could help explain why blacks are so susceptible to asthma.

Give me a break!!!! First it was high-blood pressure; then diabetes and certain types of cancer; not to mention AIDS; and now it's asthma. What's next?

It's time to stop using the black man for experimental purposes; and to give him an equal opportunity to feed his family; that's all he's asking for.

TomTom. you're jumping to a wildly incorrect conclusion.

These studies are not done in a vacuum -- whatever else is going on, the information is being sought to figure out how to cure actual diseases in actual people. Don't lose sight of that.

Second, "using the black man for experimental purposes" is grossly and gratuitously insulting. You make it sound as if they are repeating the Tuskegee experiment or something. All they did here was collect a bit of blood from a lot of people (who signed waivers first) and then look for patterns. No one got injected with anything or was experimented upon, and (as the article makes clear) a wide variety of people were studied, including pretty much all races.

And unless "the black man" is somehow different from every other man on Earth, he wants far more than an equal opportunity to feed his family -- freeing them from debilitating diseases would also be pretty high on the wish list.

You may have a long list of legitimate grievances, but attacking people who are trying to alleviate suffering is just wrong.

So many ignorant comments, so early in the morning. Reading science news has become as frustrating as reading about politics.

JimCA

...freeing them from debilitating diseases...

In the Caribbean and places like Costa Rica, for instance, where there aren't so many unnecessary experiments, the black man at 80 or 90 still goes about his daily routine. And that's a fact.

You may have something there. I know of a African-American family who moved from Cleveland, OH to Northwest Florida (very rural). Their son suffered with severe asthma symptoms in Ohio, but has very little symptoms since moving to Florida. Environment definitely played a part there.

Correct. If an Alien species visited us from a different Galaxy they would Immediately notice how different humans all are, although we all have 10 fingers and 10 toes, two optical lenses and two nostrils on our faces. A mouth with teeth inside laid out identical with all other races. Two ears on the side of our heads, wrinkled skin on our elbows and knees, and even belly buttons, bad breath, and the fact that we are all born the same way. But no, there is absolutely NO WAY we could ever be related. We are all very different alien species from one another.

I agree. A four foot tall Bantu Bushman with black hair, dark brown eyes and dark skin is exactly the same genetically as a six foot tall, redheaded Swede with fairs skin, freckles and blue eyes.

To think otherwise is just racist.

(Sarcasm.)

Yo - I beg to differ. There are some major differences between that 4' Bantu and that 6' Swede. Better re-think that statement Jherek.

Nope... no such thing as a "fair skinned" dwarf swede! Especially those that live in airport luggage!

(double sarcasm)

NO there is no difference. The difference between the swede and the Bantu is a difference between INDIVIDUAL HUMANS.

There is almost 0 genetic difference between races. To put it simply, there's more genetic difference between a Swede and a Swede than between a Swede and a Bantu.

Of the 0.1% of DNA that varies among individuals, what proportion varies among main populations? Consider an apportionment of Old World populations into three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe), a grouping that corresponds to a common view of three of the 'major races^.

Approximately 85−90% of genetic variation is found within these continental
groups, and only an additional 10−15% of variation is found between them. In other words, 90% of total genetic variation would be found in a collection of individuals from a single continent, and only 10% more variation
would be found if the collection consisted of Europeans, Asians and Africans.

If four Old World populations (European, African, East Asian and Indian subcontinent) are examined instead of three, the difference decreases from 14% to 10%.

These estimates of tell us that humans vary only slightly at the DNA level and that only a small proportion of this variation separates continental populations.

* * * *

link: http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v36/n11s/full/ng1435.html

Genetic variation, classification and 'race' from the Journal Nature

* * * * **

"Race" is in quotations because when you look at the science, the idea of "race" does not hold up under scrutiny. Any "race"-based research is therefore fundamentally flawed as it is based on a false premise.

:)

jwhite -- you're alluding to something that is probably true, but are garbling it.

There could be more genetic difference between two individual Swedes than between the average of all Swedes and the average of all Bantu's, but the difference between two Swedes will almost certainly be less than the difference between a Swede and a Bantu.

If that seems contradictory (it's not), consider this vastly simplified scenario. Assume there is one gene and it can vary from 0 to 1000 on some scale. Now assume that Swedes have a normal distribution from 0 to 900, and Bantu's have a normal distribution from 100 to 1000, each with a standard deviation of 100. Then the average Swede will be at 450 and the average Bantu will be at 550, a difference of 100. But two Swedes picked at random will likely be at least 200 apart, and similarly for two Bantus, while the difference between a Swede and a Bantu picked at random will be 300 or more apart.

The point that I think you were trying to make is that the two averages for a pair of large populations tend to be much closer to each other than pairs of values for individuals within either one of those populations.

Actually no, it is true, not probably true...

Just because two "races" --Swede and Bantu -- look different they are only genetically different by a maximum of 10% of the 0.1% of total genetic variation observed.

Just because two individuals -- The Swedish man and The Swedish man -- look different, they are only genetically different by 90% of 0.1% of the total observed genetic variation.

So yes, there is more difference between individuals than between races and that difference -- in both cases -- is negligible.

I love this conclusion of the study on race referred to above:

Race remains an inflammatory issue, both socially and scientifically. Fortunately, modern human genetics can deliver the salutary message that human populations share most of their genetic variation and that there is no scientific support for the concept that human populations are discrete, nonoverlapping entities. Furthermore, by offering the means to assess disease-related variation at the individual level, new genetic technologies may eventually render race largely irrelevant in the clinical setting. Thus, genetics can and should be an important tool in helping to both illuminate and defuse the race issue.

jwhite -- I think we're in agreement. My original post was in response to your first comment, before I saw your second.

I only qualified the difference between Swedes and Bantus because I didn't have the actual data in front of me, not because I seriously doubted it, and my point was more mathematical than a reference to any particular data.

Oh ok! Sorry.

jwhite 1083 and JimCA. Thank you for that exchange.

It would be more accurate and (better science) to pinpoint which individuals within the study displayed the asthmatic genetic trait.

For example, Sickle Cell Anemia is found overwhelmingly in blacks, but not all blacks are susceptible. Blacks with a Tropical Sub-Saharan African descent where malaria is common are far more likely to have the genetic trait.

For this study it would be beneficial to know the ancestry of the individuals with the gene as it is highly unlikely, considering the extent of genetic diversity of the African continent and the genetic history of Africans in North America, that the gene is exclusive to people considered black or that the percentage of blacks with asthma is the same as the percentage of blacks who have the genetic mutation.

when you're talking over 3billion basepairs of DNA, 0.1% difference means there's a lot of variation (think micro vs. macro scale). Ever heard of SNPs?

The genetic makeup of Homo sapiens Sapiens is both unique and exclusive to the species no matter the region of the Earth to which they trace their ancestry. Genetic mutation is something altogether different and we find these in regional clusters referred to as "gene pools" The error is in the title of the article referring to African-Americans rather than Afro-descendents found in many locations outside of Africa.

I think if you read the article again, you will see that the study included a broad range of ethnic groups.

(A) They studied a large sample drawn from all races.

(B) The study proved that a specific genetic trait found only in blacks is correlated with an increased likelihood of asthma. That pretty much refutes your assertion about genetics vs. environment -- both are significant.

lacy, Please see my above post.

Although you may not consider yourself "black", your ancestry may show that perhaps some of your relatives were of African descent. There are many causes to autoimmune disorders such as asthma though and this study does not yield any useful conclusions other than "African looking people might have a gene that makes them susceptible to asthma" The truth is "African Americans" who look "black" may have more than 40% of their genes from European ancestors. So there's no way to know where this gene comes from until they look into this further.

"..,most europeans (sic) have bad hygeine (sic)!"

I live in Europe and I have never noticed any difference in personal hygiene between here and North America.

Bigoted much?

I have noticed however that many Americans posting on Newsvine have poor English skills. You might want to learn how to spell the words "European" and "hygiene".

Doubtful, why would it benefit slave owners to breed unhealthy workers?

Fear and torture were tragically effective methods of control already in place.

Anything is possible -- there was a conjecture at one point that the conditions of slave ships killed off many slaves from dehydration, selecting for survivors whose descendants would be more likely to develop hypertension.

But it is had to see what benefit would have accrued with the genetic variant studied here.

Most likely it is a founder effect: some members of a relatively small pool of founding ancestors had the trait and their genes managed to early on get widely distributed among the population. Many small and isolated populations exhibit quirks of this nature that can be traced back to a handful of ancestors (sometimes just one).

Our species has "diverged" only 10% out of the 0.1% difference between us.

What day are the black earthly lords coming? I want to keep my schedule open for that day.

joe, get some help. Does anyone else know about your black earthly lords? It's so cute that you have imaginary friends.

Because maybe if we know the cause, perhaps we can decrease the number of people who suffer from asthma, and they won't have to buy asthma medication?