Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 6, 1 June 1987 — He Mau Ninau Ola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

He Mau Ninau Ola

Some Health Questions by Kekuni Blaisdell, M.D.

Ninau: E ke Kauka, since pure Hawaiians have more sickness than us part Hawaiians, does that mean that Hawaiians have bad genes and it is better for us to marry-non-Hawaiians? Pane Mokuna (Part) V: The first and only eomprehensive study to date to determine possible

"bad genes from mating among ka po'e Hawai'i and non-Hawaiians was reported 20 years ago in the 1967 monograph Genetics of Interracial Crosses in Hawaii, by non-Hawaiian Professors Newton Morton, Chin Chung and M.P. Mi at the University of Hawai'i. This classic research was based on the records of 179,327 keiki born in Hawai'i from 1948 to 1958, makuahine records from the Straub Clinic, and red blood eell types from 228,306 specimens at the Blood Bank of Hawai'i, and from 59 kanaka on Ni'ihau. Na hua (results) and he mau mana'o (comments) may

be summarized penei paha: • Since pure Polynesians have no red eell type B, and all pure Polynesians are Rh-positive, ka po'e piha Hawai'i ("pure Hawaiians") in the study had 8.5 percent haole admixture and 13 percent Pake mixture, while ka po'e hapa Hawai'i-hapa Pake had 14.6 percent haole admixture. Auwe! The blood type B gene among 10 of the 59 po'e Ni'ihau examined could have been introduced as early as January 30-31, 1778, when 20 of Captain Cook's seamen were marooned on Ni'ihau for two days because of rough seas, and thus had the opportunity to mate with island wahine. No laila, from the haole scientific viewpoint, there is about a 10 percent "error" in the self-iden-tification Hawaiianess of us ka po'e Hawai'i, and even among na kanaka "piha" Hawai'i Ni'ihau! More on Ni'ihau Hawaiianness will appear in a future eolumn. • The first generation kamali'i (children) of makua (parents) of the various races in Hawai'i showed measurable differences, such as in height and weight, death rates and certain disease rates, that were intermediate between those for the races of their makua. And there was no evidence that kamali'i of mixed racial matings were less fit than their makua. • The relatively high death rate of infants born of makua who were both Hawaiian, compared to other races and other racial mixtures, was demonstrated to be non-genetic. • Severe kuku'e (clubfoot), the only birth defect that was highest in ka po'e Hawai'i, was low in other Pacific and Asian races, compared to haole. In a followup investigation completed this year of 225 Hawaiian 'ohana with kuku'e, UH Professors Yang, Chung and Nemeehek concluded that the evidence favors a dominant autosomal gene, and perhaps multifactorial, that is, "polygenic," inheritance for clubfoot in ka po'e Hawai'i. The meaning of major gene dominant inheritance is shown in the pedigree illustrated in Fig. 1. Multifactorial inheritance would not show the distinctive features depicted in Fig. 1 and explained in the eaption. Autosomal means the responsible gene is one of the 44 chromosomes that is not an X"or Y sex chromosome. Dominant means the defect is transmitted from one parent only, and does not require both parents to be affected or to be carriers. No laila, kuku'e appears to be the only demonstrated case to date of a possible "bad gene" in us ka po'e Hawai'i, compared to the other races in Hawai'i nei. While other reports have occasionally suggested gene weakness in us Hawaiians, none has been eonelusively shown to have a significant genetic basis. These

reports include references to the prevalence of mental retardation in us ka po'e Hawai'i, and the frequency of total birth defects in certain Hawaiian communities. Because of articles on abnormal eilia (microscopic, hairlike structures) in the cells of respiratory passages of Polynesians (Maori and Samoans) with bronchiectasis (a type bf chronic lung infection) in Aotearoa (New Zeāland), some have concluded that such a defect is racial, and therefore it occurs in ka po'e Hawai'i, and therefore it explains the high occurrence of lung cancer and other lung ailments in Hawaiians. Somewhat similarly, others have inferred that we kanaka think and feel differently, and that these presumed inherited traits render us more susceptible to Western "diseases of civilization." Such speculations have yet to be supported by scientific data on us na 'owi o Hawai'i. In future columns, we will 'olelo kuka e pili ana i other aspects of race, mating, genes, behavior, health, and population projections into the 21st Century for ka lahui Hawai'i, an endangered species.

Fig. 1. Typical pedigree of major gene autosomal dominant inheritance in three generations. On the average, hapa lua (half) of nā kamali'i of the_affected makua have the defect. 0nly affected lālā 'ohana (family members) transmit the defect; the defect is never transmitted by unaffected lālā. Kāne and wahine are equally affected. Keikāne may inherit the defect from makuakāne.