Rachel Connolly at The Baffler:
But there is a catch. This groundbreaking research is relevant mostly to people of European descent. In short: white people. While every GWAS uses a vast amount of genetic data, it is often of European origin only. And while it is well known that findings from the genetic data of one ethnic group cannot be easily generalized to another population, the practice persists. This is acknowledged as a flaw by researchers in almost every study I consulted, and yet none had taken steps to mitigate it. Additionally, the disparity has hardly been reported on.
In the second paragraph of the July anorexia study, the researchers state plainly that only genetic data of European origin was used—but not one of the mainstream news outlets celebrating this groundbreaking scientific advance included any mention of this. It wasn’t in the Guardian, which ran a selection of letters and news pieces on the study, or in the Wall Street Journal.
more here.