The Hong Kong Equal Opportunities Commission had asked him to testify on behalf of three men. All three had been refused work because they had a schizophrenic parent . None of the men showed a trace of mental illness. And they are absolutely wrong. Still, he and his colleagues agree that schizophrenia provides a near textbook example of the real medical promise and equally real social perils of genetics research.
Schizophrenia is a disabling disease.
It usually strikes in late adolescence. An estimated 10 percent of schizophrenics commit suicide. It appears to concentrate in certain families, suggesting that genes are involved, and scientists are determinedly hunting those genes. But what we're finding is that the genetics in schizophrenia is very complex. Bassett's group, for instance, has found a strong link to a narrow region on chromosome one.