Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 4, 1 April 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, doesn't that mean that Hawaiians have bad genes and it is better for us to marry nonHawaiians? Pane Mokuna (Part) III: In Mokuna I and II, we observed that whether genes are considered

"bad" or "good" in a "race" of people, such as us ka po'e Hawai'i, depends largely on what we consider to be the manifestations of gene action, such as survival, population changes, or health statistics. But then we discovered that in the case of ka po'e Hawai'i, such indices were drastically influenced by non-gene factors, such as epidemics of fatal infections; foreign exploitation, eultural clash and despair, non-adaptation to the dominant Western society, yet the embracing of harmful haole ways; profound alteration in the environment, such as loss of native lands and resulting homelessness; and an insensitive health-care system. Eia no na'e (nevertheless), since the fatal impact of 1778, we Hawaiians have acted as if Hawaiian genes were bad by mating more with non-Hawaiians.

The attempts by Kamehameha IV and his Queen Emma to turn the tide through the founding of the Queen's Hospital in 1859, and by King Kalakaua and his Queen Kapi'olani in 1886 to save the Hawaiian race through maternal and infant health measures and encouraging proliferation, were no match for the seemingly inexorable decline of a once-thriving island people numbering perhaps 500,000 before 1778. 'Oiai (although) since the 1920s, Native Hawaiians have been ho'onui 'ana (increasing) so that we currently total e 208,400, only 72,700 are 50 percent or greater Hawaiian, a meager 8,200 are ka po'e piha Hawai'i ("pure" Hawaiians), and our culture, language and religion are vanishing. Thus, if strong measures are not taken, ka po'e piha Hawai'i will become extinct and our pulapula (descendants) will be Hawaiian in name only. I keia mahina, we begin Pane Mokuna III on modern mau 'anohana (methods) of determining gene actions on health and disease. This background will help us pane the ninau concerning possible "bad" genes in us ka po'e Hawai'i from a modern Western view compared to traditional Hawaiian views. To do this, we need to review some basic terms and concepts. Gene is a unit of inheritance, such as for 'upepe (broad nose). The existence of genes was first demonstrated in 1865 by the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel in his breeding experiments with variously-colored garden peas. Prior to the appreciation of Mendel's work, inheritance in a keiki was considered by Westerners to be a blending of the characteristics of the two makua (parents). Ka po'e Hawai'i kahiko were careful mau mea nana (observers) of traits in a keiki. They noticed that traits differed in kamali'i of the same makua, and that a given trait in a kupuna (grandparent) might skip a generation and appear in a mo'opuna. Their explanation was that some mea of the ancestor had reappeared in the keiki, like a partial reincarnation. Accordingly, the Hawaiians of old carefully planned breeding of their ali'i so as to foster desirable ancestral appearanpes, such as large body size, warrior prowess and skill in predicting events. In the 1920s, Professor T. H. Morgan at Columbia University first showed in the fruit fly that genes were present in chromosomes. Chromosome is a microscopic structure in the nucleus of a body eell. The word chromosome means "eol-

ored body" because the structure is so easily stained with dye. In mau kanaka (human beings), there are 23 pairs of chromosomes in eaeh and every body eell. The chromosomes in a suitable eell ean be stained, photographed, grouped and numbered by size, as shown in Figure 1. Such an arrangement permits careful study of chromosome structure for defects affecting genes that may account for disease, since genes are aligned like tiny beads on eaeh chromosome. It is estimated that eaeh kanaka has a total of 50,000 to 100,000 separate genes on the 23 paired chromosomes in eaeh of his body cells. Certain diseases arise from single-gene defects, such as color-blindness and inherited anemia. Other disorders result from chromosomal abnormalities, such as special forms of mental retardation. Other hereditary maladies are related to multiple gene defects, such as mimiko (diabetes) and clubfoot, whieh occur in increased frequency in ka po'e Hawai'i. I keia mahina na'e (next month), we will consider some more genetic terms, concepts and methods, as we pane further ka ninau e pili ana i na "bad" genes paha i ka po'e Hawai'i.

Figure 1. Normal human chromosomes in a white blood eell of a man that have been stained, photographed, aligned by size in groups A through G. Maleness is indicated by the X chromosome in Group C and the small Y chromosome in Group G. A female eell would have two X chromosomes and no Y chromosome.