Albinism : A Congenital Disorder Essay

Geographical isolation in the past has caused a variation in skin color; natural selection selected specific skin pigments depending on environmental factors. Early humans who moved to Europe were introduced to a place that had less sunlight than their former place of residence. Overtime, light skin (skin with lower levels of melanin) was selected for since there were not as many UV rays that the skin needed protection from. But, what was wrong with having dark skin in Europe? How is extra melanin a disadvantage in this case? One thing to remember is that even though the sun can provide UV rays, sunlight is also a great source of natural vitamin D (Jablonski; Kirchweger). Vitamin D helps bones absorb calcium and is particularly essential for developing embryos in pregnant women. The adaptation for lighter skin was important because the skin needed to absorb as much sunlight as it could in order to receive optimal amounts of vitamin D (Kirchweger). However, too much vitamin D can be fatal. So as high amounts of melanin protected the skin from excessive UV rays in Africa, they also protected it from excessive vitamin D (Kirchweger).

Chimpanzees have what is called melanin, which is a dark brown pigment that protects them from UV radiation. Melanin is a natural sunscreen, which filters out UV radiation. It is been proven that people with high concentration of melanin in their skin heading to come from tropical areas and it has protected them from skin cancer. After all of this research, Jablonski and Chaplin then ask, “what role melanin might play in human evolution?” (170).

5. In the film, Dr. Jablonski explains that melanin, located in the top layer of human skin, absorbs UV radiation, protecting cells from the damaging effects of UV. Genetics determines the type of melanin (i.e., brown/black eumelanin or red/brown pheomelanin) and the amount of melanin present in an individual’s cells. Based on this information, write a hypothesis for where in the world you would expect to find human populations with

Imagine, you are a seven year old boy living in an Chinese orphanage where there are nearly a thousand other children, and you were found on the side of the road wrapped in a yellow blanket. Out of all of the children you are the only albino. Your skin and hair are white as snow, and your eyes are red or lavender depending on the light. It is impossible to fit in because albinism is feared in the Chinese culture. One day someone tells you that you are moving. No explanation why or where you are moving, and with the clothes on your back you are dropped off at an office, waiting for the start of a new life.

According to McIntosh’s suggestion, “we should acknowledge enormous unseen dimensions, talk about the obliviousness advantages, and raise our daily awareness on the perquisites of being light-skinned.” McIntosh’s approaches are characterized as reasonable to resolve the issue. By listing down every advantage she takes for granted, she is raising awareness in the society. By

As the research continues it becomes ever more important to discuss how exactly the differing pigmentation of one race of people actually occurs, because I feel that it has an effect on the way colorism is handled throughout the African American community. There are two ways in which a person of African descent can be of a lighter complexion; the first being amalgamation, which is the coming together of both the black and white races and reproducing to make a mulatto or mixed race child and the second is the use of cosmetic creams in attempt to bleach one’s skin until they too appear mulatto (Dorman 48). This is relevant because, it shows the extremes that people are willing to go to reach the highest plateau of social acceptance. Many of these creams were painful acidic chemicals slowly burning away the pigmentation as people slept, while others were considered mild abrasive materials used to “gently” scrape away dark pigments (Dorman

When the scientific community begins to spread unfounded hypotheses regarding genetic differences between races, particularly differences that attribute poorer health or increased susceptibility to disease among minority groups, a Pandora’s Box is opened of potential dangers which can aid proponents of racist doctrines. Historically, scientific studies that sought to prove biological differences among races have led to violently racist movements like slavery, colonialism, and the Holocaust. Hence, as other pharmaceutical companies follow NitroMed’s path and begin marketing drugs targeted for specific racial groups, the dangers of such race-based therapeutics must be acknowledged.

The source of racism and white supremacy is fear of genetic annihilation. Their existence is a result of genetic mutation and environmental adaptation according to scholars and scientist of various fields. Albinism is a genetic imperfection that prohibits the production of melanin, the genetic content that gives color to eyes, skin and hair. Legendary scholar, author and psychiatrist, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing argues that African albinos, rejected by their parents, alienated from their communities and sensitive to the African sun, were forced to migrate northward to Europe. This as a consequence resulted in inbreeding amongst the exiles led to the birth of the White or European race. Racism and white supremacy functions both on a microcosmic and macrocosmic level. Similar to a massive bureaucracy, white dominion is wielded by a web of wealthy, influential and powerful individuals and institutions conjoined together through the common objective of subjugating the world’s people of color, especially Blacks, in order to ensure white genetic survival. As a collective race, Europeans are a numerical and statistical overwhelming minority in the world, contributing to less than ten percent of the worlds population. This fear of white genetic annihilation is also responsible for genocidal campaigns against people of color, Blacks in particular, because we hold the dominant genetic material to eradicate their recessive genes if race mixing ensued. In closing the problem of the 20th

Have you ever wanted to walk in someone else’s shoes for a day and see what life is like for people on the other side of the planet? Would you be more thankful for the life you have and the skin you live in? The environment, food, and habits are different for everyone depending on where they live in the world. Americans have the ability to see the flexibility in these components, but other countries can not afford to change these factors to benefit their skin. The skin is the largest organ of the body, the Sudanese and American families must be able to promote a healthy lifestyle to maintain and enhance their skin.

Colour blindness can is often carries the mutated gene on the X chromosomes that it passed 50% of this over to the child, the mother may not have had colour blindness but it would most likely be carried on one of the X chromosomes, If the mother is the carrier and the father doesn’t have colour blindness there is a one in two chance that the son may have the disease while for the daughter there is a one in two chance that she would be the carrier of the disease and there being no chance in her getting it. (National Eye Institution, Accessed 22.08.2015). If both of the Parents are carriers that means that there is a one in four chance that the child would most likely have the disease, one in two that the child is a carrier of the disease or a one in four chance that the child isn’t a carrier of the disease and also doesn’t have the disease although it is most likely that one of the children would end up getting colour blindness if one of the parents happen to have it (National Eye Institution, Accessed

The racial categories, while seemingly culturally meaningful, are biologically arbitrary. Racial statutes cannot be mapped accurately in the human genome, or as a set of traits. Traits generally ascribed to a certain “race” rarely only occur within that “race.” Natural selection and evolution are mechanisms that distribute variation in ways that are not concordant with racial categorization. In order to understand the variation within the human race, one must understand how advantageous traits are passed on through generations, and that these traits are advantageous for a specific environmental situation. Some examples of these variations are dark skin, sickle cell disease, and nasal morphology.

the definition of sex-linked genes, and examples of sex-linked genes in humans and other organisms

A major function of melanin is to act as a defensive barrier of the skin against radiation damage. Ultraviolet light between the wavelengths 280-320nm (UV-B) causes sunburn and damages the skin on nonpigmented peoples. Exposure to this degree of light causes their skin to become dry, leathery, and wrinkled in appearance similar to that associated with aging. This can be seen in Whites living in Australia and South Africa, where ultraviolet light intensity is high because of the relative latitude or closeness to the equator.

We often connect ourselves to the world through our appearances. One of the first characteristics we notice about another human is the color of their skin. It is unavoidable, as the largest organ of the body, it covers and highlights our individual features and forms a protective wall against the elements. There is no escape from the social repercussions our pigmentation causes no matter what range of the very broad spectrum of color we fall into. I have never thought so much about the genetic and social evolution of skin and its properties until I read Nina Jablonski’s Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color. This book encompasses, in great detail, how our skin has evolved, adapted and mutated throughout time and in what

There have been many documented tribes and villages who exile, murder, and rape any albinos born. One place in particular, Tanzania, as mentioned above as having one of the highest albinism rates around the world is also well known for their albino killings. Witch-doctors believe that the body parts of those with the mutation will bring good luck, success in love, business, and wealth. In March of 2015, thirty two of these witch-doctors were arrested for the ritual killings of at least seventy five albinos since the year 2000. The witch-doctors believe that having sexual intercourse with an albino will cure AIDS, so many albino women of all ages are raped. They also believe that those who are albino are cursed, and sent from the devil which is another reason for the killing of those with the mutation. Though it is not just in Tanzania that it occurs. In many small villages and tribes in Africa, and other places around the world those with the mutation are mistreated. The only person my family can think of that is also albino is my great great grandmother on my father’s side. She was full blooded Cherokee Indian, but because of the mutation she was exiled from the tribe, because they thought she was a bad omen, and would cause bad luck to the rest of the tribe.