Abstract
Cancer health disparities are often described as the unequal burden of cancer deaths in one racial/ethnic group compared to another. For example, national cancer statistics in the USA shows that Blacks die the most for 9 of the top 10 cancers in men and women. When asked about the underlying causes for this disparity, teen participants speculated that it is primarily due to genetics or biology. This speculation appears to be based on a false concept of ‘race.’ A science activity was created to counter the false concept that genetics/biology underlie the categorization of humans into different ‘races.’ This activity provided teen participants with first-hand evidence of how they are all related at one genetic locus, and how they are more genetically related across racial/ethnic groups than within them. Results of surveys given before and after the activity show that they change their perceptions of ‘race.’ Before the activity, they view themselves as most related at the genetic level to 1–2 well-known individuals (i.e., celebrities) who they perceive as members of their own ‘race’ mainly because of similar appearance. After the activity, they view themselves as related to more/all the celebrities or they state that they do not know to whom they are most related. This increased awareness of the uncertainty between the apparent ‘race’ of an individual and their genetics drives teens to dismiss genetics or biology as the primary cause of racial/ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes. Instead, they consider the unequal distribution of the social determinants of health as the primary cause of cancer disparities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Institute of Medicine (1999) The unequal burden of cancer. National Academy, Washington DC
American Anthropological Association. Statement on “race”. http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm. Last accessed on December 29, 2012
American Association of Physical Anthropologists. AAPA statement on biological aspects of race. http://physanth.org/association/position-statements/biological-aspects-of-race. Last accessed on December 29, 2012
American Psychological Association. Guidelines on multicultural education, training, research, practice and organized change for psychologists. http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/policy/multicultural-guidelines.aspx. Last accessed on January 2, 2013
American Sociological Association. The importance of collecting data and doing social scientific research on race. http://www2.asanet.org/media/asa_race_statement.pdf. Last accessed on January 2, 2013
Human Genome Project. Remarks on the completion of the first survey. http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/project/clinton2.shtml. Last accessed on January 3, 2013
McCann-Mortimer P, Augoustinos M, LeCouteur A (2004) ‘Race’ and the human genome project: constructions of scientific legitimacy. Discourse & Society 15(4):409–32
Kagawa-Singer M, Valdez Dadia A, Yu MC, Surbone A (2010) Cancer, culture, and health disparities: time to chart a new course? CA Cancer Journal for Clinicians 60(1):12–39
Cann RL, Stoneking M, Wilson AC (1987) Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution. Nature 325(6099):31–6
Satta Y, Takahata N (2002) Out of Africa with regional interbreeding? Modern human origins. Bioessays 24(10):871–5
Risch N, Burchard EG, Ziv E, Tang H (2002) Categorization of human in biomedical research: genes, race and disease. Genome Biol 3(7):1–12
Burchard EG, Borrell LN, Choudhry S, Naqvi M, Tsai H-J, Rodriguez-Santana JR et al (2005) Latino populations: a unique opportunity for the study of race, genetics, and social environment in epidemiological research. Am J Public Health 95(12):2161–68
United States Census Bureau. Race. http://www.census.gov/population/race/. Last accessed January 4, 2013
Office of Management and Budget. Provisional guidance on the implementation of the 1997 standards for federal data on race and ethnicity. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg_statpolicy/#dr. Last accessed on December 29, 2012
Braun L, Fausto-Sterling A, Fullwiley D, Hammonds EM, Nelson A, Quivers W, Reverby SM, Shields AE (2007) Racial categories in medical practice: how useful are they? PLoS Med 4(9):1423–28
Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results. SEER data (1973-2009). http://www.seer.cancer.gov/data. Last accessed January 2, 2013
National Science Education Standards. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4962&page=106. Last accessed on December 12, 2012
Jones CP, Truman BI, Elam-Evans LD, Jones CA, Jones CY, Jiles R, Rumisha SF, Perry GS (2008) Using “socially assigned” race to probe white advantage in health status. Ethnicity & Disease 18:496–504
McClellan J, King M-C (2010) Genetic heterogeneity in human disease. Cell 141(2):210–17
Acknowledgments
We thank Drs. Laura Mamo and Sonja Mackenzie for their critical comments and helpful suggestions. The outreach activities were supported by NIH/NCI grant U56CA096217 to reduce cancer disparities.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Márquez-Magaña, L., Samayoa, C. & Umanzor, C. Debunking ‘Race’ and Asserting Social Determinants as Primary Causes of Cancer Health Disparities: Outcomes of a Science Education Activity for Teens. J Canc Educ 28, 314–318 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-013-0474-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-013-0474-0