The DOI matches its Crossref record; 8 of the 8 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 7 of the 9 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
ASHG Denounces Attempts to Link Genetics and Racial Supremacy
Open accessAbstract
The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) is alarmed to see a societal resurgence of groups rejecting the value of genetic diversity and using discredited or distorted genetic concepts to bolster bogus claims of white supremacy. ASHG denounces this misuse of genetics to feed racist ideologies. In public dialog, our research community should be clear about genetic knowledge related to ancestry and genomic diversity. To that end, ASHG affirms the following:
Overview
Integrity signals
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Cites
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Verification
Claims the paper makes
5 Own interpretation · 4 Couldn’t confirm · 2 Supported · 1 Partly supported · accuracy not yet measured
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“There is considerable genetic overlap among members of different populations.”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [7] Hellenthal, 2014, A genetic atlas of human admixture history, Science source
The paper’s discussion of its approach (page unavailable) says that individuals in one population share ancestors and chunks of DNA with individuals in other populations. Its analysis of 95 worldwide groups also finds evidence of admixture in 80, supporting the broad statement about genetic overlap. (LLM, conf=0.88)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
The cited sources that could be checked couldn’t confirm or dispute this claim.
In the paper
“Most human genetic variation is distributed as a gradient”
What the sources say
- Could not verifycites [7] Hellenthal, 2014, A genetic atlas of human admixture history, Science sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The paper’s account of haplotype sharing and admixture among populations does not say that most human genetic variation is distributed as a gradient. Searches for a genetic gradient or cline found no passage in our copy addressing that claim. (LLM, conf=0.73)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Could not verify
The cited sources that could be checked couldn’t confirm or dispute this claim.
In the paper
“Such analyses 8 are providing increasingly accurate ways of helping to define individuals' ancestral origins”
What the sources say
- Could not verifycites [8] Royal, 2010, Inferring genetic ancestry: Opportunities, challenges, and implications, Am. J. Hum. Genet. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
Our indexed copy yields a table of contents, including an “Accuracy of Ancestry Inferences” heading, and a list of links, but no substantive passage from that section. Searches for increasingly accurate ancestry inference and advances in genetic analysis found no text establishing the claimed improvement, so the claim cannot be verified from this copy. (LLM, conf=0.73)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Could not verify
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Such patterns of genome variation are explained by patterns of migration and mixing of different populations throughout human history.7”
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [7] Hellenthal, 2014, A genetic atlas of human admixture history, Science source
The Abstract (page not supplied) says that migrations and other historical interactions transferred genetic material between populations, creating admixed populations. It also describes admixture as an almost universal force shaping human populations, supporting the claim's broad paraphrase. (LLM, conf=0.92)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Genetics demonstrates that humans cannot be divided into biologically distinct subcategories.”
- Also stated in: § Abstract · boosted
“the study of human genetics challenges the traditional concept of different races of humans as biologically separate and distinct.”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [1] Editorial, 2002, Slicing soup, Nat. Biotechnol. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The editorial (p. 637) argues that conventional racial categories are poor genetic divisions, likening attempts to define race genetically to ‘slicing soup.’ But the claim is more absolute than the source: it allows that geographically isolated populations may provide a basis for defining groups and notes inherited differences among some human groupings. (LLM, conf=0.86)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [2] Jorde, 2004, Genetic variation, classification and ‘race’, Nat. Genet. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [3] Keita, 2004, Conceptualizing human variation, Nat. Genet. source
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § Abstract · boosted
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In this way, genetics exposes the concept of ''racial purity'' as scientifically meaningless.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“so distinct boundaries between population groups cannot be accurately assigned.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Probably not a substantial claim. 5
The cited sources that could be checked couldn’t confirm or dispute this claim.
In the paper
“and enabling new ways to explore and discuss ancestries that move us beyond blunt definitions of self-identified race.”
What the sources say
- Could not verifycites [8] Royal, 2010, Inferring genetic ancestry: Opportunities, challenges, and implications, Am. J. Hum. Genet. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The available copy returns only the table of contents and a list of web resources; it provides no substantive passage from the named sections. Searches for self-identified race and for genetic ancestry offering a more nuanced account than racial categories did not retrieve text addressing the claim. (LLM, conf=0.72)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Could not verify
The cited sources that could be checked couldn’t confirm or dispute this claim.
In the paper
“The past decade has seen the emergence of strategies for assessing an individual's genetic ancestry.”
What the sources say
- Could not verifycites [8] Royal, 2010, Inferring genetic ancestry: Opportunities, challenges, and implications, Am. J. Hum. Genet. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The available indexed passages contain a contents heading, “Tools for Inferring Ancestry,” but no discussion establishing when those strategies emerged. Searches for the past decade, ancestry-estimation methods, and relevant dates returned only the contents and a list of websites, so the claimed timeline cannot be verified from our copy. (LLM, conf=0.70)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Could not verify
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Any attempt to use genetics to rank populations demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of genetics.”
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It follows that there can be no genetics-based support for claiming one group as superior to another.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“race itself is a social construct.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper relies on this without support.
The invocation of genetics to promote racist ideologies is one of many factors causing racism to persist.
“Recognizing that the invocation of genetics to promote racist ideologies is one of many factors causing racism to persist”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Modern genetics research is routinely appropriated by white supremacist movements to argue that racialized disparities in health, employment, and criminal justice system involvement are due to the genetic inferiority of people of color rather than environmental and historical disadvantages59.”
From Multivariate analysis of 1.5 million people identifies genetic associations with traits related to self-regulation and addiction. (2021) · cites this paper as [59]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Citations
Cites
A genetic atlas of human admixture history
Hellenthal, G., Busby, G. B. J., Band, G., Wilson, J. F., Capelli, C., Falush, D., & Myers, S. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1243518 · Cited by 798
Genetic variation, classification and ‘race’
Jorde, L. B., & Wooding, S. P. (2004) · Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/ng1435 · Cited by 637
Taking race out of human genetics
Yudell, M., Roberts, D., DeSalle, R., & Tishkoff, S. (2016) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aac4951 · Cited by 631
Inferring genetic ancestry: Opportunities, challenges, and implications
Royal, C. D., Novembre, J., Fullerton, S. M., Goldstein, D. B., Long, J. C., Bamshad, M. J., & Clark, A. G. (2010) · The American Journal of Human Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.03.011 · Cited by 271
Conceptualizing human variation
Keita, S. O. Y., Kittles, R. A., Royal, C. D. M., Bonney, G. E., Furbert-Harris, P., Dunston, G. M., & Rotimi, C. N. (2004) · Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/ng1455 · Cited by 166
Are medical and nonmedical uses of large-scale genomic markers conflating genetics and 'race'?
Rotimi, C. N. (2004) · Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/ng1439 · Cited by 95
Human ancestry correlates with language and reveals that race is not an objective genomic classifier
Baker, J. L., Rotimi, C. N., & Shriner, D. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-01837-7 · Cited by 78
(2002) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/nbt0702-637 · Cited by 15
Cited by
Sorted by citations
15 years of GWAS discovery: Realizing the promise
Abdellaoui, A., Yengo, L., Verweij, K. J. H., & Visscher, P. M. (2023) · The American Journal of Human Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.12.011 · Cited by 570
From race-based to race-conscious medicine: how anti-racist uprisings call us to act
Cerdeña, J. P., Plaisime, M. V., & Tsai, J. W. (2020) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)32076-6 · Cited by 437
Karlsson Linnér, R., Mallard, T. T., Barr, P. B., Sanchez-Roige, S., Madole, J. W., Driver, M. N., Poore, H. E., de Vlaming, R., Grotzinger, A. D., Tielbeek, J. J., et al. (2021) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41593-021-00908-3 · Cited by 317
“Modern genetics research is routinely appropriated by white supremacist movements to argue that racialized disparities in health, employment and criminal justice system involvement are due to the genetic inferiority of people of color rather than environmental and historical disadvantages 59 .”
BackgroundBhakta, N. R., Bime, C., Kaminsky, D. A., McCormack, M. C., Thakur, N., Stanojevic, S., Baugh, A. D., Braun, L., Lovinsky‐Desir, S., Adamson, R., et al. (2023) · American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine · doi:10.1164/rccm.202302-0310st · Cited by 316
“A gradient of genetic variation and genetic overlap exists between people categorized on the basis of race (78).”
Health inequities and the inappropriate use of race in nephrology
Eneanya, N. D., Boulware, L. E., Tsai, J., Bruce, M. A., Ford, C. L., Harris, C., Morales, L. S., Ryan, M. J., Reese, P. P., Thorpe, R. J., et al. (2022) · Nature Reviews Nephrology · doi:10.1038/s41581-021-00501-8 · Cited by 140
Metadata
- Venue
- The American Journal of Human Genetics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-11
- Volume
- 103
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 636
- ISSN
- 0002-9297 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6218810
- OpenAlex
- W4254438039
- Semantic Scholar
- bf5a1d8dff7ad71d4b14fed7067197a62c3cdf1a
- Cited by
- 130
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8
- FWCI
- 5.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The American Journal of Human Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Race, Genetics, and Society
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Medical History and Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
- Keywords
- racial supremacy, white supremacy, genetic diversity, ancestry, genomic diversity, racism, genetic concepts
- MeSH terms
- Genetics, Medical, Humans, Societies, Scientific, United States, Genetic Variation, Genome, Human, Racial Groups
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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