Genetics and Identity

Genetics and Identity: "Genetics and the Meaning of Race [top]
When the sequencing of the human genome was completed in 2000, it was heralded as evidence that race was a cultural construction with little base in science. The sequencing apparently shows that approximately 99.9% of the human genome is the same in everybody, and that there is greater genetic variation within each race than there is between races.
According to Dr Craig Venter of Celera Genomics, one of the organizations involved in the sequencing, the level of genetic similarity shows that: 'Race is a social concept, not a scientific one.' There is only one race, Dr Venter and other scientists at the National Institutes of Health have unanimously declared: the human race.

Dr Harold Freemen of the North General Hospital in Manhattan told the New York Times that only about 0.01% of our genes are responsible for our external appearance, on which we base our racial categorizations. The humans brain is finely attuned to recognize differences in appearance to facilitate differentiating between individuals. We therefore place great emphasis on appearance. But these differences in appearance translate into only tiny differences in our genetic make-up.

Many scientists and academics believe that this new information challenges the legitimacy of racial categorizations and shows that race is a meaningless notion. In 1997 the American Anthropological Association, which has published an official statement on race, urged the government to cease using racial categories."