is it currently possible that a sample of genetic material from a person could be used to show what the race of the person was with out seeing the person. further more if this is possible could drugs be made or chemicals whatever that would only affect one race. such as a biological aqent that is realesed into the air and then in a crowd of all different people only people of one tribe race would be affected. this could be a cure or it could sadly be a weapon . how far out is this idea ? is this idea something that could now or at one point happen. . do you think anyone else ie some goverment is working on such an idea. please feel free to
tell me what you know and think about all of this . thank you .
2007-02-05 11:54:51 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
Given a large enough database of genetic markers, it seems likely that you could guess the race of an individual from their genetic code.
As to a drug ONLY effecting one race, that seems much too advanced for what modern medicine is able to do. There ARE drugs that work better in one race, like BiDil works better in black populations that white populations. Given that we all share nearly all the same genetic material, it seems that to create a drug that only effects a single race, you'd need to find some way in which a given race has a different structure that all other races (and even though diseases like sickle-cell anemia are more common among black populations, the 'defective' blood cell is hardly present in all black people (remember this blood cell is only defective now that some blacks are not living in tropical areas where malaria is rampant)).
2007-02-05 12:08:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes it is possible to determine race via DNA. If I am not mistaken, there are already drugs that affect different races better than others, but I don't know about any drugs affecting ONLY a particular race. There are diseases that are race specific, or at least predominately race specific (sickle-cell anemia in Africans/African-Americans).
2007-02-07 00:54:27 · answer #2 · answered by stu12019 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes Genetic material can be used to trace race
Yes certain medicences already work for certain races and not others or not as well for others
Yes already this has been used in warfare
2007-02-05 20:06:50 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
hi from the human genome project its found out that human has 30-35,000 genes from which we have to find out the function of each and every gene if its done then the human population can be an healthy one without any congenital deformities,less mortality rate and a greater life expectancy.
well we can also find out our ancestors,the ethnic groups from which we are here today.who knows man we may even find out who is the decendant of genghis khan or hitler one day.
hope it happens in the near future.
2007-02-06 02:49:05 · answer #4 · answered by leopany 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
not DNA -- but mitochondrial DNA can tell who your mother and mother's mother is... this can help to pin-point where your ancestors came from.
shocking to some people that we are not all that different one race to another when you look deep into the cells.
2007-02-05 20:42:36 · answer #5 · answered by snickersmommie 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋