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EDITORIALS: Riad A Bayoumi and Anne Yardumian Genetic disease in the Arab world BMJ 2006; 333: 819 [Full text]

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More complex issue..

Lorna C. Nunn   (20 October 2006)

Unveiling the Arab Genome

Kawaldip S Sehmi   (25 October 2006)

More complex issue.. 20 October 2006
Lorna C. Nunn, GP Edinburgh Send response to journal: Re: More complex issue..	Dear Editor, I was keen to read the editorial 'Genetic disease in the Arab world' as I know someone who has dealt with patients with severe genetic disease in this area of the world. This is an important and complex issue which merits discussion. However, perhaps the sub-heading should have read, 'Will be reduced only by promoting and legalising abortion.' This was mentioned 6 times directly in the single page text, with other indirect references made. I was hoping for a more wide-ranging discussion, picking up on other issues which are mentioned. For example there is the possibility of education so that people realise the risks of marrying close family - perhaps this could change the incidence of genetic disorders even if it would take a large change in societal attitude. There was no mention of provision of contraception as a factor in reducing family sizes. I am afraid I felt that the editorial was mainly written to encourage those in Arab countries to press for abortion as the only way to deal with this complex issue. Yours sincerely, L.Nunn Competing interests: None declared
Unveiling the Arab Genome 25 October 2006
Kawaldip S Sehmi, Chairman Community Network TW7 7QQ Send response to journal: Re: Unveiling the Arab Genome	Things were never going to be the same after Iraq. It made sure that the words Arab, Islam, Islamic Nations and Islamic and Tribal Cultural Traditions become fused together into one mass synonym. They need to be made clear and accounted for in today’s articles. Like the Pope trying to take cover behind the 14th-century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus, to criticise one aspect of Turkish Ottoman rule, this may end up insulting the whole Islamic comprising a diverse and heterogeneous group of people living across some one third of the globes surface stretching from Senegal in West Africa and way past Iran and borders of Afghanistan into the former Soviet Union. The articles have not taken account of and have not defined the some key aspects that distinguish Arab, Islam, Islamic Nations and Islamic and Tribal Cultural Traditions properly. This needs to be presented and separated out these days, and a special note taken within articles to distinguish them or show consideration has been allowed for. From an Islamic and more radical Arab prospective, the articles submitted to the BMJ by professors from the “moderate nations” like Oman, Jordan, UAE and Bahrain (Oman having British naval and military cooperation since the Omani Sultanate Ruled Zanzibar in 1880s) would seem like a “Bush Iraq” or “Jack Straw Veil” attempt to democratise and unveil the Islamic genome. 1) Riad A Bayoumi and Anne Yardumian Genetic disease in the Arab world BMJ 2006; 333: 819 2) Genetic disorders in the Arab world Lihadh Al-Gazali, Hanan Hamamy, and Shaikha Al-Arrayad BMJ 2006 333: 831-834. Competing interests: None declared