Re: Child with third arm born in China

r norman wrote:
On Wed, 31 May 2006 15:38:14 -0400, Oxidized <oxidized@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


From the article:

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Doctors in Shanghai on Tuesday were considering surgery options for a 2-month-old boy born with an unusually well-formed third arm.

Neither of the boy's two left arms is fully functional and tests have so far been unable to determine which was more developed, said Dr. Chen Bochang, head of the orthopedics department at Shanghai Children's Medical Center.

"His case is quite peculiar. We have no record of any child with such a complete third arm," Chen said in a telephone interview.

Read more at:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/05/31/third.arm.ap/index.html


With some inbreeding, perhaps a race of three-armed humans will develop.



If even this is meant in jest, why would you suspect that a
developmental anomaly has any genetic basis -- a prerequisite even for
a jocular reference to evolution?


I said "perhaps". I would be interested in reading a paper
which shows that no study of a third arm has revealed a genetic basis.

A quick Google search suggests that polydactylity (more than 5
fingers/toes per hand/foot) runs in families. If additional
fingers can run in families, why not additional arms?

Mandatory joke:
I know that many men claim to have a third leg, but that's a different
(although not necessarily non-genetic) story. Badum-ching.

Oxidized

.