About a year ago, I was working together with a reproductive rights
activist in the Toronto area. He discussed a study that had been
conducted in a number of U.S. cities, on the incidence of liver diseases
in families (conceivably with a view to determining how much of a genetic
link exists, if any, though he did not specifically state that this was
the intent of the study).
The study involved taking blood samples from mothers, fathers, and
children, and conducting some sort of analysis (what kind, I don't know).
However, here is the real shocker - although the researchers were not
looking for this, they discovered that 18-30% (different cities had
different results) of the family samples had children with blood types
which were so incompatible with the "father"'s sample as to firmly
disprove paternity.
I recently mentioned this to a researcher (though I do not think that he
would object to my mentioning his name, I did not formally seek permission,
hence I will not give his name out), whose response was that the statistic
seemed rather high. I'm inclined to believe it, except for one nagging
statistic, ie., numerous studies of married couples reveal that 50% of
husbands and 33% of wives have had affairs. Thus, if one grants that,
_ceteris paribus_, there is an equal chance of pregnancy through sexual
relations within the marriage as without (again, this presumes that either
she is using the same type of protection in both cases, which includes no
protection at all), this figure might _not_ be high after all (of course,
one could always argue that the chance of the wife seeking an abortion
secretly, MAY be higher if the pregnancy resulted from n affair, but
then again, the 2-4 week post-abortion celibacy period might also alert
the husband to the fact that she had had an operation, which would also
cause suspicion ; hence, extramarital pregnancies may not be any more
likely to be selected out by abortion).
At any rate, logical posturing aside, I am curious as to whether anyone has
heard about the above study. And if anyone has, does he/she have a journal
reference of some sort? I have made numerous requests before, and while I
could simply ask the person who informed me about the study, I have been
unable to contact him.
Any help would be *greatly* appreciated.
---
Will Steeves, B.Sc. (Toronto), goid at zooid.guild.org "Neil Hull is GOiD"
ZOOiD BBS, Toronto, Ontario - The Zoo Of Ids "GOiDS Rule"
(416) 322-7876
"If possession is nine-tenths of the law, what's the other one-tenth?"
- Will Steeves, President, GOiDS "R" We, Inc.
* SLMR 2.1a * Use Orbital Mind Control Lasers, For a Better Tomorrow.
