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by disabled 1583 days ago
Dude, there are people who have children with Tay-Sachs, who are NOT ethnically Jewish at all. 1 in 250 people in the general population is a carrier for Tay-Sachs.

Also, literally everyone is a carrier of mutations for extremely devastating diseases. You just do not know which ones.

This is from a US government website covering Tay-Sachs (https://www.genome.gov/Genetic-Disorders/Tay-Sachs-Disease):

“While anyone can be a carrier of Tay-Sachs, the incidence of the disease is significantly higher among people of eastern European (Ashkenazi) Jewish descent. Approximately one in every 27 Jews in the United States is a carrier of the Tay-Sachs disease gene. Non-Jewish French Canadians living near the St. Lawrence River and in the Cajun community of Louisiana also have a higher incidence of Tay-Sachs. For the general population, about one in 250 people are carriers.”
3 comments
stefan_ 1583 days ago
I don't understand, the parent said nothing about Jews at all. Nonetheless, given the incidence among them, they also happen to be pioneers in prescreening for this very genetic defect.
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tasha0663 1583 days ago
Yeah, that's weird. Either the association is so strong with some people that they can't see Tay-Sachs without immediately thinking Ashkenazi, or there was a stealth edit to the comment.
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DaveExeter 1583 days ago
No stealth edit!

Genetic testing can identify carriers, so if Tay-Sachs has been (mostly) 'vanquished' from the Ashkenazi community, it can be 'vanquished' completely.

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/18/science/using-genetic-tes...

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bradleyjg 1583 days ago
Non-Jewish French Canadians living near the St. Lawrence River and in the Cajun community of Louisiana also have a higher incidence of Tay-Sachs.

Traced back to a single particularly fecund Jewish ancestor I believe.

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zionic 1583 days ago
Um I’m sorry but what the fuck is this comment?

The OP’s point was clearly (to me) that genetic diseases like this should be eliminated at the embryo stage.

What does you going all “Jews” have to do with anything?

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pyuser583 1583 days ago
> The OP’s point was clearly (to me) that genetic diseases like this should be eliminated at the embryo stage.

That’s not clear. In the past Tay-Sachs was prevented mostly by pre-marriage genetic counseling.

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