Why is it so hard to find people interested in the importance of the paternal age effect in genetic disorders?

Question

It seems like the myths are so strong.

http://www.schizophreniaforum.org/for/curr/Malaspina/default.asp

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/10/021018080014.htm

Jim,
What does change is the DNA of sperm because of the many hundreds of cell divisions from the spermatagonia and the sperm DNA also is mutated by excessive coffee and agent orange and PERC etc. So age + toxins = the paternal age effect.

So it is not the mans own DNA that changes but the DNA in sperm and spermatagonia which are the cells the sperm come from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternal_age

Answer 1

I've even had doctor friends of mine tell me men can have a baby their whole life. I keep saying "But there can be complications", they rarely know what I'm talking about.

Answer 2

Because the genes you have are those that you are born with. Age, time has nothing to do with those genes. Associating age with genetic transfer is NOT a proving factor. Think about it.

Your genetic make up does NOT change over time. You need to be very cautious of studies that indicate something that is illogical. And you can forget any studies that come from the psychological community. Those a rarely conducted using the scientific processes.

You know for thousands of years human females had started giving birth at age 13 or 14. Well, we all somehow survived that. Another thing, these same very young women were locked into being perpetual mothers. Time did not diminish their genetic input. However, they were lucky to make it beyond a couple natural child births.

When you contemplate the way things are now, just remember, we humans have about a million years of evolution prior to being as we are now.

Answer 3

Some will be interested. Women consider having a child with an older man will be interested as will be the potential father.

Young men will be more aware of the idea that they have a biological clock, but it is likely to be something they store away in the back of their skull for future reference.

And then there will be people like me with autism or other paternal-age-related condition in the family. I find it facinating that I can look at my brother as a living example of the increased risk associated with men fathering kids at older ages.

But that is a small percentage of the population. The "trying to conceive" section is where you will get the most interest. But you might not know it. They might just read your question & go to your links without answering & you would never know.

What is your special interest in this subject? It seems like all your questions revolve around this topic.

Answer 4

This may be more of a Sociology question , rather than biology. The effect of paternal age has something to do with mutations. The older parents are, the more they have been exposed to anything that may have caused gene mutations.
People may be infertile and trying to have children and they don't want to give up.
Myself, I adopted my 6th cousin in 1991, while I was in the Navy. We talked about this subject, and it had relevance because I was working with nuclear weapons, and the exposure to radiation can cause genetic damage.
Your question is a little vague, so I can't give you a more exact answer.

Answer 5

Is it hard to find interested people or educated people? I think the real problem is finding people who know anything about it.