Physician to the Gene Pool: Genetic Lessons and Other Stories [Hardcover]

James V. Neel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471308447 | ISBN-13: 978-0471308447 | Publication Date: March 28, 1994 | Edition: 1

A fascinating scientific autobiography integrating personal anecdotes and observations from Neel's field work in Japan and Brazil. Presents a unique view regarding the future of human genetics in a world already confronting the genetic implications of population control, genetic counseling, gene therapy as well as the diagnosis and treatment of genetic disease. Suggests a set of genetic measures and priorities at some variance with those currently being emphasized.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Neel's outspoken autobiographical account is bound to stir controversy. A geneticist and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, he went to Japan in 1946 to assess the genetic effects following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; his six-year study found minimal genetic damage in children born to radiation-exposed survivors. Neel's 1960s fieldwork among the Yanomama tribe of Brazil and Venezuela led to his finding that periodic outbreaks of highly abnormal white blood cells--perhaps due to viral infection--occur in people worldwide. He calls for a global program of population control, coordinated by the U.N., with the goal of limiting couples to two children. He also advocates the widespread availability of the birth-control drug RU-486, as well as prenatal diagnostic services with the option of abortion in cases of severe genetic disease in a fetus. And he supports nuclear power, lamenting "public near-hysteria" over what he claims to be the greatly exaggerated risks of radiation. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Throughout his distinguished career, Neel has conducted research in several unique areas. In addition to major investigations of sickle-cell anemia and consanguineous marriages, he has pursued extensive studies on Japanese bombing victims to determine if elvated exposure to radiation resulted in genetic changes. Neel also spent many years examining remote South American Indian tribes to analyze genetic trends in populations who were virtually untouched by modern civilization. In this work, the author uses his vast scientific and medical background to speculate on the genetic future of the human population; he includes some strong opinions on difficult choices we will soon be forced to confront. This is a valuable work, both for its detailed study of human genetics and its thought-provoking analysis of population genetics; however, considerable prior knowledge of basic genetics is essential. Recommended for science collections in academic or large public libraries.
- Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib .
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 457 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471308447
• ISBN-13: 978-0471308447
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,400,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Yanomamo stories - worth a buck used for sure, May 25, 2010

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Hibernating Hummingbird "hh" (Tempe, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Physician to the Gene Pool: Genetic Lessons and Other Stories (Hardcover)

Four stars because the book could have used some editing - the 457 pages are in relatively small print according to my memory of reading the book. I no longer own a copy.
The couple of fun facts which stuck in my mind are related to "poverty".
Somewhere in the book Neel remarks that at least in the rainforest-tribes he studied the women had a remarkable ability to RETAIN SALT, which is especially needed for making a baby. In the rainforest where our chimp ancestors evolved, minerals tend to be leached away, therefore salt is scarce. Fast-forward to present-day where of course the taste-arms-race oversalts everything, from Neel's viewpoint it is obvious why the organism doesn't quite know what to do with the superabundance.
I forget which tribe and it is possible that it might not have been this book( the salt-story I'm SURE about ), but someone also remarked on some "poor" tribe in which the men have this funny callus on their shoulder since their idea of a fun game is ultra-running with a 50-or-so-pound-log on their shoulder.
The take-home message is that the human body was optimized for a hunter-gatherer-amount-of-exercise and scarcity-of-food. I have a couple of Afghanistan/Iraq war books and the soldiers are typically remarking how the subsistence-farmer-natives can usually run rings around them - the "poor" natives have a healthier lifestyle !
Neel was also involved in follow-up-studies of the Japan A-bomb-survivors. This was before all the research on DNA-repair-mechanisms, so he reports on being puzzled about the relatively few obvious mutations in the next generation.