Cystic Fibrosis isn't diverse enough

The_Minister

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081125.wcystic26/BNStory/National/home
A good few budding student politicians are backpeddling furiously after this.
Apparently CF affects mostly white males.

The Carleton University Students Association was left backpedalling Tuesday and Wedneedsay after voting to call off its Shinerama fundraiser for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, while implying in a formal motion that the charity and the disease weren't sufficiently “inclusive.”

In a meeting Monday night, CUSA members voted 17-2 to approve a motion to look at donating the frosh week fundraising money to other charities because “cystic fibrosis has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men” and “all orientees and volunteers should feel like their fundraising efforts will serve their diverse communities.”

That left the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which receives about $1-million a year from more than 60 postsecondary Shinerama fundraisers nationwide, scrambling to correct the information in a story that exploded across the country.

CUSA president Brittany Smyth sought to douse the flames of the controversy Tuesday night. Citing the motion's final line, she said the debate was over whether to consider directing money raised to various charities, not about whom CF affects.

But that final line concludes the union will “work to select a new broad-reaching charity for orientation week,” appearing to imply that the CCFF doesn't meet such a requirement, and failing to mention rotating charities. Ms. Smyth nevertheless insisted that CUSA has not closed the door on the CCFF.

Ms. Smyth said on Wednesday that the matter will be re-examined at its next meeting. She told Ottawa's CFRA radio that the intent of the vote was simply to look at whether to shift the association's fundraising efforts to other charities.

CF foundation CEO Cathleen Morrison said Tuesday that “I couldn't understand what could be behind this. Like, have we got the story [about Carleton's motion] right? Obviously, the information is incorrect.”

CF is a fatal genetic disease that affects males and females equally, because children whose parents both have the gene that causes the disease have a one-in-four chance of getting it, regardless of their sex.

While it affects Caucasians – a scientific term the foundation says doesn't mean whites, but rather all people of European, North African, Middle Eastern and South Asian descent – more than black or East Asian populations, the latter groups aren't immune, Ms. Morrison said.

Janet Mitchell, a black woman whose daughter has CF, said she wasn't aware that it was present in her community in Nova Scotia before her daughter was born. She and her husband, who is white, both carry the gene.

“People need to know, whether they like it or not, it's not just a white person's disease,” said Ms. Mitchell, 44. “For anyone to say that cystic fibrosis is just a white man's disease, they're just not doing their research,” she said.

“It's actually a fair amount of confusion surrounding it. Most of the discussion around the motion was actually interest in switching charities, and not just going for one charity,” Ms. Smyth said. “Most of the people wanted to switch charities from year to year, just the idea of mixing it up.”

The motion was written by student Donnie Northrup, an orientation volunteer. Ms. Smyth said the association's rules prohibit them from changing motions in the middle of a meeting, so his draft could only be voted on as-is. Mr. Northrup said the motion was an effort to expand the benefit of fundraising.

“This is not saying that cystic isn't a ‘good enough cause,' but acknowledging that others exist and we can be more representative of the desires of students if we rotate our charities,” Mr. Northrup said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail. “In this system, there is also the possibility to return to Shinerama after a few cycles. I genuinely do not understand all the attention this has garnered.”

Two people voted against his motion, including third-year student Nick Bergamini.

“They're trying to score cheap points by playing politics with a disease,” Mr. Bergamini said Tuesday night. “What's important to note that this does not represent what Carleton students are about. If it's going to be a black mark on anybody, it should be the student union.”

This year's Shinerama, which is over and the proceeds of which the CCFF still expects to receive, raised about $20,000.

Ms. Morrison said she hopes Carleton will continue its own Shinerama in years to come. She believes support for CF, which affects young people and for which the median life expectancy is about age 37, is broad-reaching among students.

“Our doors are always open to anybody who'd like to help. Hopefully, we can overcome the current circumstances, and come out ahead,” Ms. Morrison said.

It's hard to know whats going on, but the guy who wrote the motion actually defended his stance on Facebook by saying anyone who disagreed with him was the same as the people who fought the abolition of the slave trade and women's suffrage.
EDIT: And now a group has been set up to criticise him: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=58315&id=1642710051&op=1&view=all&subj=42753977018&aid=-1&oid=42753977018#/photo.php?pid=58315&id=1642710051&op=1&view=all&subj=42753977018&aid=-1&oid=42753977018

Prof.Badass

In soviet russia cystic fibrosis has YOU.

The_Minister

"WHEREAS ORIENTATION WEEK STRIVES TO BE INCLUSIVE AS POSSIBLE;

WHEREAS ALL ORIENTEES AND VOLUNTEERS SHOULD FEEL LIKE THEIR FUNDRAISING EFFORTS WILL SERVE THE THEIR DIVERSE COMMUNITIES;

AND WHEREAS CYSTIC FIBROSIS HAS BEEN RECENTLY REVEALED TO ONLY EFFECT WHITE PEOPLE, AND PRIMARILY MEN."

...is the original motion.

Donnie (the guy who wrote it), will not back down, but the decision has been reversed.

emeraldstar

Heh.

We're having a CF charity as a recipient of the proceeds for a project we're doing in college.

I guess I better go tell the class it's not good enough, and we should give it to Cancer instead. Anyone can get cancer :rolleyes:

I think they'll agree.

asdasd

It primarily affects Celts. If the original author is of Engllish descent we could play fun and games with his anti-Irish racism.

The_Minister

http://forums.hannity.com/showthread.php?t=1178761
From the forums of yer man Hannity (the guy with the show on Fox News).

thelordofcheese

This just in: Student unions are staffed by and attract retards.

Pompey Magnus

“They're trying to score cheap points by playing politics with a disease,” Mr. Bergamini said Tuesday night. “What's important to note that this does not represent what Carleton students are about. If it's going to be a black mark on anybody, it should be the student union.”

Oh dear, he said black in a negative context - RACIST!!!!

Bottle_of_Smoke

They should really charge cystic fibrosis with discrimination.

AckwelFoley

Yes, i believe Farrakhan calles it "cracker killer"

so what would be a good black disease then?

AckwelFoley

Deleted User wrote: »

so what would be a good black disease then?

Aids

Africa has a bit of an epidemic.

I heard a refrence on the radio where some official in south africa, umbeki i think rode a whore bareback, but claimed he didnt catch the AIDS because he had a shower afterwards..

Wertz

Deleted User wrote: »

so what would be a good black disease then?

Sickle cell anaemia

F*cking dickhead PC idiots. Why can't these f*ckers be born with a degenerative illness and do the world a favour?

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.vhi.ie/hfiles/hf-034.jsp

900 Irish people have CF and another 20 percent carry the defective "CF" gene. Approximately 50 babies are born with CF every year in Ireland. At present there is no cure for CF.

900 people ... The majority of CF sufferers live for 30-40 years and quality of life could be a lot better

1 in 19 Irish people are carriers of the CF gene so it only affects 228,000 of us


As to why it mainly affects white males ?
It's a genetic disease and so it's inherited and since people didn't intermingle as much in the past I'm sure you can figure out the rest. Also because there are more male genetic diseases because the male chromosome is smaller, people with two female chromosomes are more likely to have a at least one working copy of whatever is needed.

all in all it shows the people involved to be ignorant of the basic concept of genetic disease - white males are white because their parents carried certain genes for skin colour , they have a disease that mainly affects white males because their parents carried genes common to white males

oddly enough inbreeding increases the concentration of some defective genes which shows up in a lot of smaller groups that don't marry outside especially in religious groups

Terry

Wait. What?
I think my cousin has that.

What are they on about?
I got distracted by Tricia Takenawa.

billy the squid

snyper wrote: »

Aids

Africa has a bit of an epidemic.

I heard a refrence on the radio where some official in south africa, umbeki i think rode a whore bareback, but claimed he didnt catch the AIDS because he had a shower afterwards..

CF is a genetic condition, whereas AIDS is a viral one. some genetic conditions can be confined to certain races. AIDS being viral, doesn't distinguish between races.

Would this motion stop them fundraising for haemophelia, given that it is a condition mostly suffered by males.

anonymous_joe

billy the squid wrote: »

CF is a genetic condition, whereas AIDS is a viral one. some genetic conditions can be confined to certain races. AIDS being viral, doesn't distinguish between races.

Would this motion stop them fundraising for haemophelia, given that it is a condition mostly suffered by males.

It's your man that corrupt lad they want to be president.

And as for that, that's horrendous. I truly hope something more inclusive strikes those students.

The_Minister

billy the squid wrote: »

AIDS being viral, doesn't distinguish between races.

Actually AIDS spreads far quicker among Africans because they have a greater chance of transmitting it.
This is because most African women suffer from an infection that causes small fissures in the vaginal walls, making it easier for the disease to spread.

The more you know

Capt'n Midnight

billy the squid wrote: »

Would this motion stop them fundraising for haemophelia, given that it is a condition mostly suffered by males.

or colour blindness ?

or if we are talking about white people , skin cancer / vitamin D problems / inability to play basketball / susceptability to malaria


having Cystic Fibrosis genes is thought to protect against some other diseases similarily to the way sicle cell anemia may help with malaria

Crash

billy the squid wrote: »

Would this motion stop them fundraising for haemophelia, given that it is a condition mostly suffered by males.

Only affects males actually, iirc? because the gene related to haemophilia is on the X chromosome women end up being carriers rather than sufferers. Though iirc some symptoms can show, such as unusually heavy menstrual flow.

Scientist crash strikes again!

Orange69

The_Minister wrote: »

Actually AIDS spreads far quicker among Africans because they have a greater chance of transmitting it.
This is because most African women suffer from an infection that causes small fissures in the vaginal walls, making it easier for the disease to spread.

The more you know

That and the fact that unprotected sex and rape are rampant among sub Saharan blacks...

This story really underscores the mental disease that PCness really is.. Its basically a from of mental retardation..

thelordofcheese wrote: »

This just in: Student unions are staffed by and attract retards.

Couldn't agree more.. seen this phenomenon first hand..

EamonnKeane

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

http://www.vhi.ie/hfiles/hf-034.jsp

It's a genetic disease and so it's inherited and since people didn't intermingle as much in the past I'm sure you can figure out the rest. Also because there are more male genetic diseases because the male chromosome is smaller, people with two female chromosomes are more likely to have a at least one working copy of whatever is needed.

The X chromosome is not "female", men have one too. And CF is autosomal, it has nothing to do with the X chromosome. It affects men and women equally, but men live longer (for unclear reasons) so there are more male patients. On an unrelated note, given that men live several years less than women, shouldn't it be "diverse" to focus on their illness? It would be so, if women had 2,000 fewer days in their lives.

Capt'n Midnight

My Bad - had thought the gender difference meant that one of the genes was sex-related

EamonnKeane wrote: »

It affects men and women equally, but men live longer (for unclear reasons) so there are more male patients.

Hang on , that makes it a Female disease since women are more affected. someone should tell the SU :pac:

On an unrelated note, given that men live several years less than women, shouldn't it be "diverse" to focus on their illness? It would be so, if women had 2,000 fewer days in their lives.

some of this is related to accidents and violence and the stress of being constantly nagged because you didn't work hard enough to provide for her spending money after you're gone

emeraldstar

vhi.ie wrote:

900 Irish people have CF and another 20 percent carry the defective "CF" gene.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

1 in 19 Irish people are carriers of the CF gene so it only affects 228,000 of us

??

Should be one in five then, no?

Jeapy

emeraldstar wrote: »

??

Should be one in five then, no?

Its 1 in 19, not 20%.

Going Forward wrote: »

Only affects males actually, iirc? because the gene related to haemophilia is on the X chromosome women end up being carriers rather than sufferers. Though iirc some symptoms can show, such as unusually heavy menstrual flow.

Scientist crash strikes again!

No female haemophiliacs because they're spontaneously aborted in the womb. They would bleed to death during menstruation.