INDEXED BIOMEDICAL CHALLENGES PRESENTED BY THE AMERICAN INDIAN PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION Pan American Sanitary Bureau, Regional Office of the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 1968 iNDEXED BIOMEDICAL CHALLENGES PRESENTED BY THE AMERICAN INDIAN Proceedings of the Special Session held during the Seventh Meeting of the PAHO Advisory Committee on Medical Research 25 June 1968 ,-, ,. Scientific Publication No. 165 September 1968 PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION Pan American Sanitary Bureau, Regional Office of the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 525 Twenty-third Street, N.W. Washington, D.C., 20037 NOTE At each meeting of the Pan American Health Organization Advisory Committee on Medical Research, a special one-day session is held on a topic chosen by the Committee as being of particular interest. At the Seventh Meeting, which convened in June 1968 in Washington, D.C., the session surveyed the origin, present distribution, and principal biological subdivisions of the American Indian and considered the specific scientific and medical issues calling for clarification, including the problems of newly contacted Indian groups and those of groups well along in transition. This volume records the papers presented and the ensuing discussions. '~, t PAHO ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL RESEARCH Dr. Hernán Alessandri Dr. Alberto Hurtado Ex-Decano, Facultad de Medicina Rector, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Universidad de Chile Lima, Perú Santiago, Chile Dr. Otto G. Bier Dr. Walsh McDermott Diretor, Departamento de Microbiologia e Imu- Chairman, Department of Public Health nologia Cornell University Medical College 4I Escola Paulista de Medicina New York, New York, U.S.A. Sao Paulo, Brasil Dr. Roberto Caldeyro-Barcia Dr. James V. Neel Jefe, Departamento de Fisiopatología Chairman, Department of Human Genetics Facultad de Medicina University of Michigan Medical School Universidad de la República Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. Montevideo, Uruguay Dr. Marcel Roche (Vice-Chairman) Dr. Carlos Chagas Director, Instituto Venezolano de Investigacio- Chief, Brazilian Delegation to UNESCO nes Científicas Paris, France Caracas, Venezuela Dr. Philip P. Cohen Chairman, Department of Physiological Chemis- Dr. James A. Shannon try Director, National Institutes of Health The University of Wisconsin Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A. Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. Dr. René Dubos (Chairman) Dr. John C. Waterlow Member and Professor Director, Tropical Metabolism Research Unit The Rockefeller University University of the West Indies New York, New York, U.S.A. Kingston, Jamaica Dr. Herman E. Hilleboe Director, Division of Public Health Practice Professor Abel Wolman School of Public Health and Administrative Emeritus Professor of Sanitary Engineering and Medicine Water Resources Columbia University The Johns Hopkins University New York, New York, U.S.A. Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. .i9 Dr. Bernardo A. Houssay Director, Instituto de Biología y Medicina Ex- Dr. Salvador Zubirán perimental Director, Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición Buenos Aires, Argentina México, D.F., México Dr. Mauricio Martins da Silva, Secretary Chief, Office of Research Coordination Pan American Health Organization Washington, D.C., U.S.A. PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION Pan American Sanitary Bureau Dr. Abraham Horwitz, Director iii Special Session on BIOMEDICAL CHALLENGES PRESENTED BY THE AMERICAN INDIAN Moderator: Dr. James V. Neel PARTICIPANTS Dr. Tulio Arends Dr. James B. Griffin Hematología Experimental Museum of Anthropology Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cien- The University of Michigan tíficas Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. Caracas, Venezuela Dr. William S. Laughlin Dr. José Barzelatto Department of Anthropology Hospital del Salvador The University of Wisconsin Universidad de Chile Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. Santiago, Chile Dr. Moisés Behar Dr. Miguel A. Layrisse Instituto de Nutrición de Centro América y Sección de Fisiopatología Panamái Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cien- Guatemala, Guatemala tíficas Dr. Thomas A. Burch Caracas, Venezuela Clinical Field Studies Unit National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Dr. Rubén Lisker Diseases Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. México, D.F., México Dr. William Centerwall Dr. Max Miller Department of Human Genetics Department of Medicine The University of Michigan Western Reserve University Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. Dr. Napoleon A. Chagnon Department of Anthropology Dr. Jerry D. Niswander The University of Michigan Human Genetics Branch Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. National Institute of Dental Health Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A. Dr. Juan Comas * Sección de Antropología Dr. Noel Nutels Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas Servico Nacional de Tuberculose Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Ministério de Saúde México, D.F., México Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Dr. Edmundo Covarrubias Departamento de Genética Dr. Marcel Roche Facultad de Medicina Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cien- Universidad de Chile tíficas Santiago, Chile Caracas, Venezuela Dr. José M. Cruxent Dr. Francisco M. Salzano Sección de Antropología Departamento de Genética Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cien- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul tíficas P6rto Alegre, Brasil Caracas, Venezuela Dr. George Giglioli Dr. William J. Schull Malaria Laboratory Department of Human Genetics Ministry of Health The University of Michigan Georgetown, Guyana Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. Unable to attend. iv - 2- Page 42, Table 2. The following errors occur in names of tribes: in line 2, "Ticaque" should read "Jicaque"; in line 3, "Maya" and "Mazatel" should be separated by a comma; in line 6, "Mozatel" should read "Mazatel." Page 43, Table 3, line 4. "Periri" should read "Pariri." Rubén Lisker: Discussion Page 45, Table 2. The number of cases of G-6-PD deficiency among the Huasteco should be 3 instead of 0. Page 46, second paragraph of General Discussion. Dr. Lisker's remarks should read: "When I say there are two identical albumins, I am only saying that they have the same electrophoretic mobility. Nobody has done an amino acid sequence, so that is all we know. Whether or not it is the same mutation is unknown." Francisco M. Salzano: Survey of the Unacculturated Indians of Central and South America Page 62. In line 10, "Quiguisaca" should read "Quiquisaca"; in the section on Brazil, the reference to Ribeiro in line 4 should be 20 instead of 19, "Makirutare" in line 14 should read "Makiritare," and the first reference in line 24 should be 11 instead of 10; in the section on Guyana, the second reference should be "Information note in América _Indlgena, 23:158, 19_6.'j." . .. George G. Giplioli: Malaria in the American Indian Page 107, last paragraph. In line 16, "malarioastic" should read "malario- metric"; in line 30, "Macushi" should read "Makusi." José M. Barzelatto and Edmundo Covarrubias: Study of Endemic Goiter in the American Indian Page 130, line 5. The figure "r=4 .72" should read "r=0.4 72." BIOMEDICAL CHALLENGES PRESENTED BY THE AqERICAN INDIAN (PAHO Scientific Publication No. 165) CORRIGENDUM The following substantive changes were submitted by authors of papers in this volume too late for inclusion in the printed text. José M. Cruxent: Theses for Meditation on the Orip;in and Dispersion of Man in South America Page 11, last paragraph, line 3. "Atrate" should read "Atrato." Page 13, last paragraph. In lines 4 and 5, "scaly-surfaced stone arti- facts" should read "crude chopping tools"; in line 22, "Intahuasi" should read "Intihuasi." Page 16, reference 21. The publisher should be Vega, not Española. William S. Laughlin: Discussion Page 17, paragraph 3. The last sentence should read: "But at least the other groups that may have come in have left n-o distinguishable ge- netic heritage that can be sorted out." Page 17, paragraph 6. The following sentence should be added at the end: "These last are foods easily accessible to women and children." Juan Comas: Biological Subdivisions of the Indian on the Basis of Physical Anthropology Page 22, paragraph 8, line 9. "Wisler" should read "Wissler." Page 23, paragraph 8 (Stewart and Newman extract), line 2. "Radical" should read "racial." Page 34, reference 58. The paper by Weiner appears on pages 441-480 of the volume cited. Tulio Arends: Discussion Page 41, last paragraph. References 9 and 10 should be followed by an ad- ditional reference: "Arends, T., D. A. Davies, and H. Lehmann. Absence of variants of usual serum pseudocholinesterase (acylcholine acylhydrolase) in South American Indians. Acta Genet. 17:13-16, 1967." (OVER) CONTENTS Opening Statement James V. Neel ........................................... I The Origin and Dispersion of American Indians in North America James B. Griffin .............................. 2 Theses for Meditation on the Origin and Dispersion of Man in South America lose M. Cruxent.............................. 11 Discussion William S. Laughlin ........................................... 17 General Discussion ........................................... 19 Biological Subdivisions of the Indian on the Basis of Physical Anthropology Juan Comas ............................. 22 Biological Subdivisions of the Indian on the Basis of Genetic Traits Miguel Layrisse ................................. 35 Discussion Tulio Arends ................................................. 40 Rubén Lisker ........................................ 43 General Discussion ........................................... 46 The American Indian in the International Biological