Fury at DNA Pioneer's Theory
By Cahal Milmo,
The Independent (UK)
| 10. 17. 2007
Africans are less intelligent than Westerners
One
of the world's most eminent scientists was embroiled in an
extraordinary row last night after he claimed that black people were
less intelligent than white people and the idea that "equal powers of
reason" were shared across racial groups was a delusion.
James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the unravelling of DNA
who now runs one of America's leading scientific research institutions, drew
widespread condemnation for comments he made ahead of his arrival in Britain
today for a speaking tour at venues including the Science Museum in London.
The 79-year-old geneticist reopened the explosive debate about race and
science in a newspaper interview in which he said Western policies towards
African countries were wrongly based on an assumption that black people were
as clever as their white counterparts when "testing" suggested the
contrary. He claimed genes responsible for creating differences in human
intelligence could be found within a decade.
The newly formed Equality and Human Rights Commission, successor to the
Commission for Racial Equality, said it was studying Dr Watson's remarks "
in full". Dr...
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