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Updated: Jul 29, 2026

Analyzing Gene Expression from Marine Microbial Communities using Environmental Transcriptomics
Published on: February 18, 2009
Stormy weather: race, gene expression, and the science of health disparities
1Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA. nkrieger@hsph.harvard.edu
Abstract:
In the current US political climate, conservative foundations are seeking to frame debates over determinants of racial/ethnic health disparities as a matter of "politically correct" unscientific ideology (concerning the health impacts of discrimination) vs scientific yet "politically incorrect" expertise rooted in biological facts (concerning genes). I draw on historical and contemporary examples to place conservative polemics in context, and also highlight fundamental flaws in their arguments involving the use of spurious categories (e.g., Caucasian), logical fallacies, temporal fallacies, and an erroneous emphasis on gene frequency over gene expression. The larger goal is to strengthen development of a more critical, reflexive, and rigorous science capable of generating evidence useful for rectifying--rather than perpetuating--social disparities in health.
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