DNAprint Genomics (DNAG)

[worktoplay]

mingwan0...You remember our good buddy Stephen O'Brien, Chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the NCI. Here's what he had to say just this past January 2004:

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/11/Tampabay/Race_gleaned_from_DNA.shtml

...But some genetics experts say that the test is a scam, that it couldn't possibly yield the results it claims for the price it costs and that it could be used to try to bolster racist claims.

"The company will be able to provide you with an estimate, but it won't be much better than looking at the guy," said Stephen J. O'Brien, chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Md. "I'm sure it won't have much use to the recipient..."

"...Stephen O'Brien, the National Cancer Institute laboratory chief, said there's plenty to question. He called the test a scam.

Different ethnic groups carry a "proportion" of distinctive genes, but they represent a tiny fraction of the overall variation.

"Put simply, there is 10 to 20 times more genetic differences between any two people within one race, say Caucasian, than there are between the racial groups," O'Brien said.

In theory, he said, it is possible to create such a test, but it would be quite expensive. At DNA Print Genomics' price, he said, it would have to be "woefully inaccurate."

O'Brien also said he thought the results could be used "for no good."

"You need look no further than the apartheid rules of South Africa," he said. "If that regime had quantitative estimators of ethnicity, they would have exploited these to serve a racist agenda and discrimination..."

I wonder how long it took him to get his foot out of his mouth before he signed on to participate in the MALD admixture study you referenced. LOL

Later,
W2P