Response to Tibayrenc: On the ASHG Perspective on Genetics and Racial Supremacy

To the Editor: We welcome the comments from the correspondent and the opportunity to respond. In issuing our Perspective on the misuse of genetics for advancing repugnant and false theories about white supremacy, ASHG provided a concise and accessible statement on the issue stressing the scientific findings that are elemental to our mission. We agree with Dr. Tibayrenc’s observation that “typologist race concepts” are fundamentally flawed, and we sought to explain, in brief and for a broad audience, why this is so. This included a summary of the complex considerations of ancestry and population genetics research, and we referred interested readers to examples from the relevant scientific literature