Re: More from SAR on genetics and health

[Guest guest]

Very very well put, thanks, Anita for posting that.

In short, it has been well documented that disease is a combination of nature and nurture. Health care policymakers must ensure that a correlation between a gene pattern and a medical condition does not become a proxy for the causation of that medical condition as some in the medical and pharmaceutical industries move toward geneticizing and racializing disease.

[Guest guest]

Hi Anita,

Yes, re the ethnicity questions, I remember being surprised by those as well when I moved here. Also I was surprised by the fact that jobs could be advertised stating an age preference and that your birthdate was put on your CV (resume). There are some aspects here that are worse than in North America and some that are far less so - I remember being shocked by the fact that it wasn't illegal for me to leave the house without a legal form of ID, I was so conditioned to having my ID with me that I felt like I was leaving the house naked.

The thing that irritates me about the ethnicity is that none of them actually suits me! Mind you, I worked in a company in which I was the only American ex-pat and I never felt that I was discriminated against in any way (although it did take me a while to master the art of subtlety, what with being from Texas and all).

Like you, Anita, I was also surprised by the language differences - especially in business terminology which I did not expect. It took me about a year before I was "fluent" in british terminology. I remember the first day that I trotted down to the shop to buy something and the bloke asked me for "2 quid." I panicked thinking that I didn't have the strange currency that he was asking me for..... Oh not to mention the obligatory stepping out in front of traffic because I'd looked the wrong way. I almost got killed by a double-decker bus on Putney High Street. Thankfully the driver swerved dramatically but now everytime I pass that intersection I breathe a breath of thanks for his quick response. Needless to say I never did looked the wrong way again!!!!

my lunch is getting cold and I'm talking nonesense.

Darla

Oh, ps (I just can't shut up) would you believe that I drove every single day of my life from the age of 15, including the big trucks with 6 wheels, horse trailers, motorcycles, etc and never had a wreck and it still took me THREE times to pass my driving test here?!!!

I'm glad you chose that quotation Darla. When I read this part it occured to me that the sentence "Health care ... disease" would be a good quotation to include in any commentary on the gene card that is ALWAYS brought up when discussing what might be causing autism.This part also caught my eye because of something rather strange, at least to me, that just occured. I went to register at a surgery and in the forms I was to fill out it asked about ethnicity (white British, white other, mixed Asian, etc). I was a bit shocked to tell the truth. I've never seen anything like that in Canada, and it made me wonder why--good intentions I'm sure, but really how much can you know about a person medically based on the answer to that question? Maybe I'm missing something?Anyway, it's a relief to know that at least some people seem to be very aware of the significance in the subtleties of this issue--not just us!BTW, for anyone who doesn't subscribe to the SAR, it really is an excellent read. You can subscribe for free if you're strapped for cash (that's what I did the first year) or if you have a bit of money for a good cause you can subscribe and pay. For those of you who don't know, Lenny paid for the SAR on his own for a very long time, providing a much-needed service to our community. It is only recently that he has had to ask people to pay for their subscriptions, if they are in a position to do so. This isn't some sort of money-making scheme.Anita>> > Very very well put, thanks, Anita for posting that.> > > > In short, it has been well documented that disease is a > combination of nature and nurture. Health care policymakers must > ensure that a correlation between a gene pattern and a medical > condition does not become a proxy for the causation of that medical > condition as some in the medical and pharmaceutical industries move > toward geneticizing and racializing disease.>

[Guest guest]

I'm glad you chose that quotation Darla. When I read this part it

occured to me that the sentence " Health care ... disease " would be a

good quotation to include in any commentary on the gene card that is

ALWAYS brought up when discussing what might be causing autism.

This part also caught my eye because of something rather strange, at

least to me, that just occured. I went to register at a surgery and

in the forms I was to fill out it asked about ethnicity (white

British, white other, mixed Asian, etc). I was a bit shocked to tell

the truth. I've never seen anything like that in Canada, and it made

me wonder why--good intentions I'm sure, but really how much can you

know about a person medically based on the answer to that question?

Maybe I'm missing something?

Anyway, it's a relief to know that at least some people seem to be

very aware of the significance in the subtleties of this issue--not

just us!

BTW, for anyone who doesn't subscribe to the SAR, it really is an

excellent read. You can subscribe for free if you're strapped for

cash (that's what I did the first year) or if you have a bit of money

for a good cause you can subscribe and pay. For those of you who

don't know, Lenny paid for the SAR on his own for a very long time,

providing a much-needed service to our community. It is only

recently that he has had to ask people to pay for their

subscriptions, if they are in a position to do so. This isn't some

sort of money-making scheme.

Anita

>

>

> Very very well put, thanks, Anita for posting that.

>

> In a message dated 22/01/2008 09:03:50 GMT Standard Time,

> mysuperteach@... writes:

>

> In short, it has been well documented that disease is a

> combination of nature and nurture. Health care policymakers must

> ensure that a correlation between a gene pattern and a medical

> condition does not become a proxy for the causation of that

medical

> condition as some in the medical and pharmaceutical industries

move

> toward geneticizing and racializing disease.

>

[Guest guest]

> >

> >

> > Very very well put, thanks, Anita for posting that.

> >

> > In a message dated 22/01/2008 09:03:50 GMT Standard Time,

> > mysuperteach@ mysupertea

> >

> > In short, it has been well documented that disease is a

> > combination of nature and nurture. Health care policymakers must

> > ensure that a correlation between a gene pattern and a medical

> > condition does not become a proxy for the causation of that

> medical

> > condition as some in the medical and pharmaceutical industries

> move

> > toward geneticizing and racializing disease.

> >

>