: ’ Debunking superstitions 3 a ‘It runs in na : a e ) the family’ AN astonishing number of people seem to go about under an imaginary shadow— a fear that they will probably - develop some serious disease because “it runs in the family.” Some people believe they will - probably end up with cancer, tuberculosis, mental illness or even might “drink themselves to death” because members of the previous generation in their family had these misfortunes. Of. course, various physical attributes from their parents, including advan- tageous and disadvantageous ones, and they may also inherit certain diseases and abnor- malities, but they are not dis- eases of this sort. One of the most striking in- herited diseases is haemophilia —the condition of the: blood which prevents it from clotting —which decimated the much- - intermarried royal families of Europe in the last century. ‘There are a few other quite rare diseases of the brain, the muscles and the skin -which clearly run in families and can be called hereditary, besides ’ a number of quite minor ail- ments or abnormalities. And there are one or two dis-_ eases which turn up in homo- geneous groups, such as Medi- terranean anaemia, from which quite a number of people in Cyprus, Greece and Italy suffer and nobody else. . We don’t know enough about this yet to say whether, when groups from these countries emigrate. and settle elsewhere, this disease will spread or dis- appear. Then there is a small pos- sibility that two perfectly nor- mal parents may between them produce some abnormality in their children, such as the rhesus factor in the blood, which up to about ten years ago caused the death of some babies. Now that this abnormality is understood we can prevent this from happening. * In addition to these. un- doubtedly hereditary diseases, there is another group of ills . which recur. in families, such as . asthma, migraine and epilepsy. ? In these cases what seems to be inherited is the tendency to teact in a certain unusual way to various external conditions, _ but it will not necessarily appear except under the stress of circumstances. For example, some people react to prolonged overwork, anxiety or over - excitement {even pleasant excitement) with a migraine — an acute headache accompanied by par- tial blindness, confused speech and pins and needles. To these perhaps should be added some rare congential heart and digestive diseases, which show up in childhood, and which are thought to be probably hereditary. But not one,of these truly hereditary diseases or condi- tions arouses the anxiety that - seems to exist about inheriting children inherit a number of other complaints which are not hereditary at all. * In particular, there is a wide- spread belief that mental de- ficiency is inherited, though all the evidence shows that this is nonsense. : Many mentally defective children are suffering either from brain disease or brain in- jury, but there is no more likeli- hood of a defective child being born to defective parents than to normal parents. The child of a defective parent may well grow up in much} worse environment than a child. of normal parents, but in general it has been shown that exceptionally dull people tend to have children brighter than themselves, while exceptionally brilliant ones tend to have children less bright than them- selves. The theory that mental de- fect is inherited is a tragic one, because it has led so many people who have produced a backward or mentally deficient child to feel desperately ashamed, as if they had ex- posed some family skeleton. The silence and secrecy of many such parents in the past has seriously delayed general recognition of how much society can do and ought to do for such children. ~*~ In the same way, there is no evidence whatever that TB is inherited. The children of a family in which someone has TB are likely to develop it, if certain precautions are not taken, simply because it is a highly infectious disease. Two things decide whether one will develop TB or not: the conditions in which he lives, which either build up or under- mine his body’s resistance to the tubercle bacillus, and the con- centration of germs which assail him. _ Again, in the case of cancer there: is absolutely no signifi- cant evidence that heredity plays a part, beyond the fact that one or two very rare phy- sical conditions, which are hereditary, seem to tend to- ward its development. It is true that strains of ex- perimental animals have been developed which are more sus- ceptible to cancer than other strains, but we can’t apply this to human beings because there are no among humans, who wisely mix themselves up again with each generation. _ ma ; ; * Equally fantastic, but poison- ous in its effects, like all re- actionary ideas, are all those theories of the possible inheri- tance of “criminal tendencies,” drunkenness and so forth. The criminal is made, not born; and he may well be taught the tricks of the trade by his parents, just as a youth may grow up with the habit ip, SBS fey ms “pure strains” |: 0f drinking too much, simply from copying what he sees in a probably unhappy home. Those who talk about “bad! * blood” in some “problem | family” of their acquaintance | are holding up progress in the solution of such families’ very real problems by blaming the: individual for bad _ heredity, instead of society for bad con- , ditions. 824 676 SUBS OBTAINED: SUBS NEEDED: Dear Keader: More than 250 subs came in during the past 10 days, lifting our box score to 824 by Monday this week. Very good, but not yet good enough. During Septembeer and ~ October we had about 800 renewals to pick up, and many are still outstanding. - a : So far in our circulation drive we can record 150 new readers obtained, and this — is an encouraging sign. Members of the West End press club have done an outstand- ing job in winning new readers, having signed up 35 first-time subscribers. Paper sales are picking up, with more volunteer salesmen going on the streets and — ringing up bigger sales from week to week, Two members from Halperin press club sold 75 papers in two hours, and this club plans to make paper selling a regular task. We wish to thank South Burnaby press club for discussing the question of promoting our paper and bringing forward several suggestions which are being carefully consid- ered. One idea—to advertise the paper with posters—has been adopted and posters will Rita Whyte | be available shortly. PROVINCIAL VANCOUVER Subs: 384 Subs: 440 PRESS CLUB QUOTA SUBS PRESS CLUB QUOTA free SPSS eS 45 22 Advance (722-0 a 15 Pitan. oe! eee 5 l Campbell River _____- 35 asi e e Se ee ee Copper Mountain ---_ 5 Pee aad hart = Courtenay _________- 30 19 Building Trades ____--_- 15 Cumberland _________- 10 26 Dry, Dock ssc ees 15 Sac ergs ce SE Ae 15 7 © Hast thndy ess sa 10 CPNIG: ce et Se 15 2 < Fort Langley _______- 15 2 BSG ce aerate ie South Langley ________ 15 2 HALSey PORUCH oes cy. We Grassy Plains ________ 15 Georgia -_--____- i_-. 10 ae pe Sa aie Seah ihe 18 Grandview 2.20202 52-2 45 ONCE: re eee 15 1 Lake Cowichan _____- 35 28 eae eo eae Maple Ridge __-__--_ 25 8 Partch: poets Re 1 Michel-Natal __.___-- 20 5 Kitsilano ---------__- 25 Mission. 2 eee 5 6 Little Mountain ______ 15 Nanaiino. ee. ee 85 49 Moperiey.<* Feo he 30 Nelson 2 eer eos + 20 3 Mt; “Pleasant: *322 > 15 New Westminster ---_ 35 16 Niilo Makela ________ 15 Notch Hill 22 ee 10 5 Notdtiay! 2.2 a2 es 35 PATKSVING 4 ee 10 12 Ogee ee eee 10 Port Bes ta 10 9 Penne SPal): (5.30 i: 5 Powell River _-_----_ 35 25 Ps JHeiperin’: os. 32 2 20 Prince George -___--_- 10 5 Btistanaye, 5 eS 40 Prince Rupert _____-__ 15 1 Stiaricona 2 ae 20 Salmon Arm __/_____ 10 + a Bindents se 5 POMmtilar oe 15 Lee Victory Square ______ 50 Steveston. 2-2. 5 Waterfront (27. 15 North: Surrey 20-2 23 15 weet | Westrasnd) oe oa 35 South Surrey ________ 15 2 i Gapitol Bill 22 35 WEA: ee ee 35 12 South Burnaby ______ 50 Vernon a: Asa he eee ee 10 4 Vancouver Heights __ 20° WiciOhin i A200 55°, a North Van. ‘City ___: 50 -Province Miscellaneous 20 22 North Van. Dist ____ 50 Correspondence ______ ‘ 4 City Miscellaneous __ 39 PROVINCE TOTAL 7100 384 VANCOUVER TOTAL ° 800 SUBS Fill in this form (Expires November 1) PLEASE SEND ME (INDICATE YOUR CHOICE): { False Witness And one-year’s subscription to Pacific ADDRESS I enclose $3.50 [| Cheque (PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION OFFER) ' Circulation Dept., Pacific Tribune Room 6, 426 Main St., Vancouver 4, B.C. ~ [1 He Wrote For Us Tribune wrt ee ne nn ee ee hom oO Money Order a Cash | j PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 21, 1955 — PAGE