“That could change soon. As mentioned earlier, for example, the BGI in China plans a study to look specifically for intelligence genes. And according to Nick Martin of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, in Australia, dozens of GWAS investigations of behavioural and cognitive links are now under way. So as not to be caught with the dark-matter problem that has bedevilled the study of genetic disease, plans are afoot to consolidate these studies into “meta-analyses” big enough to detect otherwise-hidden effects. If all goes well, the old arguments about the role of nature and nurture in human development may soon be seen in a new light.”
The 1994 law, whose main purpose is to guarantee prenatal and pediatric health care to poor women and children, nonetheless contains two small but controversial articles dealing with genetic counseling. They stipulate that couples undergoing their required premarital physical examination be informed of any genetic problems. But articles 10 and 16 then direct doctors to ″take steps″ to ″prevent childbearing″ -- through sterilization or long-term contraception—should a problem be detected. And the law is unclear as to who should make the decision regarding sterilization—the doctor or the couple. Dr. Griffiths said that many scientists and human right advocates were concerned about the ambiguity, particularly given the charges of forced sterilization that have plagued China’s one-child family program. Article 10, for example, says that physicians must give ″medical advice″ to couples who have been ″diagnosed with certain genetic diseases of serious nature which are considered inappropriate for childbearing.″ It continues, ″The two may be married only if both agree to take long-term contraceptive measures or to take a ligation operation for sterility.″ It is unclear how many people have been sterilized or forbidden to marry under the law, since Professor Qiu said that provinces were generally still preparing to implement it. But local laws requiring sterilization under narrower circumstances already exist. In 1988, Gansu province in northwest China passed a law requiring compulsory sterilization of people with I.Q.’s under 49. Several other provinces subsequently adopted similar provisions.
...When Xin Mao, a Chinese geneticist now working in England, polled genetic counselors from 37 countries on whether reducing defective genes in the population was an important goal of their work, all respondents in China said ″yes,″ while fewer than 6 percent in Canada and 5 percent in the United States agreed....Dr. Mao’s research also found that Asian physicians were more inclined than their Western colleagues to recommend sterilization in cases of genetic problems. Only 3 percent of genetic counselors in the United States said they would advise a couple where both man and woman carried a gene linked to cystic fibrosis to undergo sterilization, compared with 52 percent of Chinese counsellors.
From another South China Morning Post article, “Genetic data on IQ could mislead, academics say”:
Three applicants who were rejected for government jobs after they were found to be carrying the thalassaemia gene sued the Foshan city government this summer, becoming China’s first case of workplace discrimination because of the gene. China does not yet have laws against gene discrimination, although many employers measure intelligence to cull candidates from pools of applicants, through the use of aptitude tests.
Continuing; general media coverage:
Newsweek: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/04/24/high-quality-dna.print.html (mentions company funding but not how much the high-IQ sequencing will cost)
http://www.susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=381 South China Morning Post (found in LexisNexis, this is an open web copy)
Economist, http://www.economist.com/node/16349410
Couldn’t help but be bemused by http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/03/china.dna.children.ability/ & http://www.bionews.org.uk/page_46453.asp—if ever phenotype should be screening off genotype...
And on the topic of whether they will use the results? http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/16/world/scientists-debate-china-s-law-on-sterilizing-the-carriers-of-genetic-defects.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm came up in a search:
From another South China Morning Post article, “Genetic data on IQ could mislead, academics say”: