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People in China adopting custom-made white babies?

Minoosh said:
No, it's an underlying fear of China. And actually I wouldn't call it fear - more like wariness. Yes, my friend's speculation about "blond hair and blue eyes" did send me off on a tangent. I thought most Han Chinese would want a Han Chinese child, and that a white or mixed-"race" kid would have a tough time of it, so I wondered why anyone would want to do it. That led to status-symbol imagery and worse. From what I've read I don't get a flattering view of China's wealthy princeling class.

The Economist magazine occasionally drops a hint about "ugly" Chinese nationalism, which I think might boil down to Han Chinese believing Han Chinese are a superior race. Would China have any compunction about running experiments to prove it? Or, would China have any interest in looking at the genomes of other "races" to identify which traits might inspire cross-breeding experiments?

I'm not talking about infants at this point, more like: Some Asians have a reaction to ethanol that isn't seen in "Caucasians." Can this be bred out of an embryo line? Can other traits be bred into an embryo line? And if scientists got this far, how much farther might they want to go? In Googling around I found a reference to China cloning human embryos. A possible next step, IMO, would be implanting these embryos into various wombs to see how close they could get to creating duplicate human beings, and what environmental factors might be varied in utero.

If any country has the will or wherewithal to do it, it's probably China. Its 20th-century history shows a willingness to indulge in social experiments and national pride could easily fuel enthusiasm for original genetic research that would IMO be more difficult to carry out in the "West." If China has an edge here, why would it stop? It has every reason to carry on.
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When you start out with this 'wariness' about China, anything their people do will look suspicious. If couples from Norway were adopting custom-made American babies, would you be asking this question -
Minoosh said:
If that's the case, is anyone adopting babies at all, or could the Chinese Norwegian be harvesting not only embryos but fetuses - even viable fetuses - for genetic manipulation?
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Btw. Why the fixation with America?

If anything they would be doing it from here and Australia
 
cullennz said:
Except there is no evidence
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No. One. Is. Disagreeing. With. You.

It falls under the aegis of "could be done".... with a lot of caveats, several of which I've listed.

The fact that the Chinese actually like the "white look" was a diversion. The important fact is that no one can prove that this occurs and that the OP rates right up there with HIV Needles In Coin Return Slots, Don't Blink Your Lights Or a Gangbanger Will Murder You, or Albino Crocodiles in the NYC Sewer System. All of those also COULD happen. There's just no evidence that they have.

Minoosh, this could be settled quite easily. Your friend's girlfriend works there, you say? This, of course, is worryingly close to "I know a guy who heard from his dentist about a guy who said X". If I say this to someone, it's exactly like that, in fact. "I just read from a lady on the internet that she has a buddy who has a girlfriend who says she works for a company that...."

You should very easily be able to find out the company name. And finding out what business they're in would then be a snap. And I'm gonna bet your Congressman or D.A. would be rather interested if they're really trading embryos or babies. Simply accepting your friend's word and then repeating it here is nothing more than typical anecdotal evidence.
 
cullennz said:
More than shown
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http://shanghaiist.com/2016/01/13/pale_skin_gene.php
http://www.scmp.com/tech/science-re...-obsession-white-skin-and-trophy-partners-may

Both the above links talk about the same research, which they then link to culture - the preference for fair skin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/world/asia/in-china-sun-protection-can-include-a-mask.html?_r=0
http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/china-long-tradition-dodging-sun-photos

Chinese beachwear, to avoid the sun and maintain fairness.

http://www.asianscientist.com/2012/09/features/skin-whitening-products-asia-2012/
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/13/asia.whitening/

Articles that highlight how the modern skin whitening industry feeds the cultural desire for fairness.

Then there is the old Chinese saying - A white complexion is fair enough to hide seven faults.
 
The thread is embryos and to be honest. White dudes from here and Aus make better embryos
 
cullennz said:
My mistake. European Americans

Most of which British Americans

I just find it funny your claim with no evidence is based on people wanting to look American when America has been around as long as a spot on my bum and if anything it would be Europe
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Geez, and I sometimes think I'm negative. America has been around for just about as long as New Zealand. Are you hurt Chinese aren't going with Kiwi surrogates?

You know who posts no evidence while bitterly sniping at any shred of support other people might post?

I've made the links in my thinking clear from the first post and I'm not making up the stats (such as they were) on the U.S. being the most popular country for finding surrogates. Maybe because there's not as much inbreeding here. Chinese "tend" to choose donors of Asian heritage. But apparently some go for other "races." Get over it.
 
Minoosh said:
Geez, and I sometimes think I'm negative. America has been around for just about as long as New Zealand. Are you hurt Chinese aren't going with Kiwi surrogates?

You know who posts no evidence while bitterly sniping at any shred of support other people might post?

I've made the links in my thinking clear from the first post and I'm not making up the stats (such as they were) on the U.S. being the most popular country for finding surrogates. Maybe because there's not as much inbreeding here. Chinese "tend" to choose donors of Asian heritage. But apparently some go for other "races." Get over it.
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Inbreeding?

Have you been to the south?
 
This has been quite a humorous distraction but need to go to bed soon.

You might want to do a finale
 
cullennz said:
The thread is embryos and to be honest. White dudes from here and Aus make better embryos
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The thread is about embryos except when you make it about something else. We're all free to express our brain farts, but when they're wrong expect to get called on them.

You want to talk about embryos? Here's a suggestion: Talk about embryos. Stop demanding others do, as no one thus far has said anything other than "could be", "maybe", "depends". Instead of trying to force people into making an argument you wish to have, why don't you state your, er, informed position.

Oh, and the Chinese have almost five thousand years of culture. They've outbred sheep romancing and wouldn't want the regressive genes back in the pool. :p
 
I'm not making any argument

I just said we have more awesome embryos so why bother with America
 
Everyone knows US embryos have those "flaws"

I didn't want to bring it up because I am nice, but let's face it
 
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