Genocide, not genes: indigenous peoples' genetic alcoholism is a racist myth
by Cory Doctorow from on (#PN14)
I've heard -- and repeated -- the theory that addiction rates among indigenous people in the Americas was caused by genetics -- specifically, that "new world" populations hadn't gone through the European plague years' genetic bottleneck that killed everyone who couldn't survive on alcoholic beverages (these having been boiled during their production and thus less likely to carry infectious diseases). (more")