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→Race in biomedicine
=== Race in biomedicine ===
=== Race in biomedicine ===
There is an active debate among biomedical researchers about the meaning and importance of race in their research. The primary impetus for considering race in biomedical research is the possibility of improving the prevention and treatment of [[disease]]s by predicting hard-to-ascertain factors on the basis of more easily ascertained characteristics. Some have argued that in the absence of cheap and widespread genetic tests, racial identification is the best way to predict for certain diseases, such as [[Cystic fibrosis]], [[Lactose intolerance]], [[Tay-Sachs Disease]] and [[sickle cell anemia]], which are genetically linked and more prevalent in some populations than others. The most well-known examples of genetically-determined disorders that vary in incidence among populations would be [[sickle cell disease]], [[thalassaemia]], and [[Tay-Sachs disease]]. [[Image:Sickle cell distribution.jpg|thumb|right|180px| distribution of the sickle cell trait]]
There is an active debate among biomedical researchers about the meaning and importance of race in their research. The primary impetus for considering race in biomedical research is the possibility of improving the prevention and treatment of [[disease]]s by predicting hard-to-ascertain factors on the basis of more easily ascertained characteristics. Some have argued that in the absence of cheap and widespread genetic tests, racial identification is the best way to predict for certain diseases, such as [[Cystic fibrosis]], [[Lactose intolerance]], [[Tay-Sachs Disease]] and [[sickle cell anemia]], which are genetically linked and more prevalent in some populations than others. The most well-known examples of genetically-determined disorders that vary in incidence among populations would be [[sickle cell disease]], [[thalassaemia]], and [[Tay-Sachs disease]].
There has been criticism of associating disorders with race. For example, in the United States sickle cell is typically associated with black people, but this trait is also found in people of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or Indian ancestry.<ref>[http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/posters/chromosome/sca.shtml sickle cell prevalence ]</ref> The sickle cell trait offers some resistance to [[malaria]]. In regions where malaria is present sickle cell has been [[Balancing selection|positively selected]] and consequently the proportion of people with it is greater. Therefore, it has been argued that sickle cell should not be associated with a particular race, but rather with having ancestors who lived in a malaria-prone region. Africans living in areas where there is no malaria, such as the East African highlands, have prevalence of sickle cell as low as parts of Northern Europe.
There has been criticism of associating disorders with race. For example, in the United States sickle cell is typically associated with black people, but this trait is also found in people of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or Indian ancestry.<ref>[http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/posters/chromosome/sca.shtml sickle cell prevalence ]</ref> The sickle cell trait offers some resistance to [[malaria]]. In regions where malaria is present sickle cell has been [[Balancing selection|positively selected]] and consequently the proportion of people with it is greater. Therefore, it has been argued that sickle cell should not be associated with a particular race, but rather with having ancestors who lived in a malaria-prone region. Africans living in areas where there is no malaria, such as the East African highlands, have prevalence of sickle cell as low as parts of Northern Europe.