Recently, a debate has emerged over the use of racial classification in medicine and biomedical research. In particular, following the completion of a draft of the human genome, some have suggested that racial classification may not be useful in biomedical research because it reflects "a fairly small number of genes describing appearance "1 and "there is no basis for race in the genetic code. "2 Partly on the basis of these conclusions, some have argued for excluding racial and ethnic classification from biomedical research.3 In the United States, race and ethnicity have been used as a reason...