(from Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn From It --2005:4, 7-8, 87-88)

Through the work of [various anthropologists, most notably Napoleon] Chagnon and others, the Yanomami have become one of the best-known, if not the best-known, Amazonian Indian group in the world. People in diverse locales on diverse continents know of them. They have become a symbol in the West of what life is like beyond the pale of "civilization." They are portrayed in books and films, not necessarily correctly, as one of the world's last remaining prototypically primitive groups.

The Yanomami are also one of the foundational societies of the anthropological corpus. They are referred to in most introductory textbooks.. . . The Yanomami are one of the groups almost every anthropology student learns about during his or her course of study.

The Yanomami tend to be called by three names in the literature: Yanomami, Yanomamö, and Yanomama. The names all refer to the same group of people. . . .

I presume, though I have no way of knowing for certain, that at one time or another the majority of anthropologists [today] have read Chagnon's book. At least one, and perhaps several, generations of American anthropologists have been raised on it. . . .

Napoleon Chagnon's . . . writings, particularly his introductory ethnography Yanomamö: The Fierce People and the films associated with it have made his name familiar to millions upon millions of college students since the 1960s. It is not too far-fetched to suggest that Chagnon helped make the Yanomami famous as a tribe around the world and the Yanomami, in turn, have been the basis for Chagnon's own fame. . . . His basic ethnography of the Yanomami, Yanomamö, has sold perhaps three million copies—far more than any other ethnographic work in modern times. [While Chagnon provided the Yanomami with a range of gifts -- pots, machetes, and even rifles that were highly valued by the Yanomami -- they have not, to date, shared in any of the millions of dollars Chagnon has accrued in royalties.]

In defense of Chagnon, Hill writes: "Although Chagnon has been singled out here for criticism, this is an issue that applies to many anthropologists. I have seen dozens of field anthropologists over the years work in precisely the same way as Chagnon is alleged to have done. They provide a few gifts to informants and then never again return to share out any of the economic success that comes from a career that was built on that fieldwork" . . . .

[From the perspective of Davi Kopenawa, a famous Yanomami activist], anthropologists are concerned with money. . . . Why shouldn't the Yanomami get some of the money, he asks, especially since anthropologists are using the fame of the Yanomami to become famous themselves?

(from Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn From It --2005:77,88, 64-65)

[An anthropological friend of Napoleon Chagnon, Ray] Hames refers to a conversation he had with Chagnon in 2001 in which Chagnon said he talked to Yanomami about Neel's project [and Neel's collection of blood samples for his research]:

For a year before Neel's arrival and during the [blood] collection phase he told the Yanomamö in all the villages to be sampled that Neel's team wanted to examine their blood in order to determine whether there were things that indicated whether or not they had certain kinds of diseases, especially shawara (epidemic diseases) and that this knowledge would help treat them more effectively if they became ill.

[James Neel did provide the Yanomami, on one occasion, with additional medicines after the completion of his fieldwork, but medical information regarding the composition of the blood amples was never provided to the Yanomami nor to the governmental authorities helping the Yanomami.]

[The anthropologist who has perhaps spent the most time working with the Yanoami, Bruce] Albert states: "To this day, I still do not see how his [Neel's] blood sampling or research significantly helped the Yanomami in treating their epidemic diseases, as they were promised if they agreed to let their blood be drawn (a promise that, in their eyes, was reinforced by the delivery of trade goods). The Venezuelan and Brazilian Yanomami have kept on dying in the same way for three decades after Neel's project."

[The Yanomami Davi] Kopenawa suggests, Yanomami presumed the blood samples were being taken not just for the benefit of the outsiders but for the benefit of Yanomami as well. He states: "We want to know the findings. What did they find in the blood—information regarding disease?" . . . . [the Yanomami] José Seripino (in his presentation at George Washington University) makes the same point: "I was only ten years old. I thought 'Okay. This will help us.' But what happened? We haven't seen the outcome'". . . . [the Yanomami] Julio Wichato observes, "The problem is that they studied it [the blood] and didn't send us the results. If they help us it's different. . . . It's important that they send the results" . . . . [the Yanomami Ivanildo] Wawanawetery asserts that the researcher "created fear . . . when he [the Yanomami] didn't give up his blood, the guy was going to get sick, right? If he didn't give blood the guy was going to get sick, he was going to die. Those who were donating blood would live"

Readers are encouraged to do their own Google search (using the following headings in combination: yanomam, dna, blood) to confirm this point. But here is a reasonable sampling of the articles written relating to the blood samples with their abstracts:

1). Merriwether, D. A.; 1999 Freezer anthropology: new uses for old blood. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, (London) Biological Sciences January 29; 354(1379): 121–129. Abstract: Archived blood fractions (plasma, settled red cells, white cells) have proved to be a rich and valuable source of DNA for human genetic studies. Large numbers of such samples were collected between 1960 and the present for protein and blood group studies, many of which are languishing in freezers or have already been discarded. More are discarded each year because the usefulness of these samples is not widely understood. Data from DNA derived from 10-35-year-old blood samples have been used to address the peopling of the New World and of the Pacific. Mitochondrial DNA haplotypes from studies using this source DNA support a single wave of migration into the New World (or a single source population for the New World), and that Mongolia was the likely source of the founding population. Data from Melanesia have shown that Polynesians are recent immigrants into the Pacific and did not arise from Melanesia.

2). Guerreiro, João F., Mauro S. Figueiredo, S. E. B. Santos, and Marco A. Zago; 1992 Globin gene cluster haplotypes in Yanomama Indians from the Amazon region of Brazil. Human Genetics, Volume 89, Number 6 / August Pages 629-631. Summary: Six polymorphic restriction enzyme sites in the beta-globin gene cluster were investigated in Yanomama Indians from the Amazon region of Brazil, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. Four haplotypes were identified; the haplotype frequency distribution is similar to those reported for Polynesians, Micronesians and most Asian populations.

3). Keyeux, Genoveva. Clemencia Rodas, Nancy Gelvez, and Dee Carter; 2002 Possible Migration Routes into South America Deduced from Mitochondrial DNA Studies in Colombian Amerindian Populations. Human Biology, Volume 74, Number 2, April 2002, pp. 211-233. Abstract: Mitochondrial DNA haplotype studies have been useful in unraveling the origins of Native Americans. Such studies are based on restriction site and intergenic deletion/insertion polymorphisms, which define four main haplotype groups common to Asian and American populations. Several studies have characterized these lineages in North, Central, and South American Amerindian, as well as Na Dene and Aleutian populations. Siberian, Central Asian, and Southeast Asian populations have also been analyzed, in the hope of fully depicting the route(s) of migration between Asia and America. Colombia, a key route of migration between North and South America, has until now not been studied. To resolve the current lack of information about Colombian Amerindian populations, we have investigated the presence of the founder haplogroups in 25 different ethnic groups from all over the country. The present research is part of an interdisciplinary program, Expedición Humana, fostered by the Universidad Javeriana and Dr. J. E. Bernal V. The results show the presence of the four founder A-D Amerindian lineages, with varied distributions in the different populations, as well as the presence of other haplotypes in frequencies ranging from 3% to 26%. These include some unique or private polymorphisms, and also indicate the probable presence of other Asian and a few non-Amerindian lineages. A spatial structure is apparent for haplogroups A and D, and to a lesser extent for haplogroup C. While haplogroup A and D frequencies in Colombian populations from the northwestern side of the Andes resemble those seen in Central American Amerindians more than those seen in South American populations, their frequencies on the southeastern side more closely resemble the bulk of South American frequencies so far reported, raising the question as to whether they reflect more than one migration route into South America. High frequencies of the B lineage are also characteristic of some populations. Our observations may be explained by historical events during the pre-Columbian dispersion of the first settlers and, later, by disruptions caused by the European colonization.

4). Horai, Satoshi, Rumi Kondo, Yuko Nakagawa-Hattori, Seiji Hayashi, Shunro Sonoda,and Kazuo Tajima; 1993 Peopling of the Americas, Founded by Four Major Lineages of Mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 10(1):23-47. Abstract: Nucleotide sequence analysis of the major noncoding region of human mitochondrial DNA from various races was extended with 72 Native Americans from 16 different local populations (nine populations from Chile, four from Colombia, and one each from Brazil and from Maya and Apache Indians). The sequences were determined directly from the polymerase chain reaction products. On the basis of a comparison of the 482-bp sequences in the 72 Native Americans, 43 different types of mitochondrial DNA sequences were observed. The nucleotide diversity within the Native Americans was estimated to be 1.29%, which is slightly less than the value of 1.44% from the total human population including Africans, Europeans, and Asians. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that most Native American lineages are classified into four major distinct clusters. Individuals belonging to each cluster share at least two specific polymorphic sites that are nearly absent in other human populations, indicating a unique phylogenetic position of Native Americans. A phylogenetic tree of 193 individuals including Africans, Europeans, Asians, and Native Americans indicated that the four Native American clusters are distinct and dispersed in the tree. These clusters almost exclusively consist of Native Americans with only a few Asians, if any. We postulate that four ancestral populations gave rise to different waves of migration to the New World. From the estimated coalescence time of the Asian and Native American lineages, we infer that the first migration across the Bering landbridge took place - 14,000-2 1,000 years ago. Furthermore, sequence differences in all pair-wise comparisons of Native Americans showed a bimodal distribution that is significantly different from Poisson. These results suggest that the ancestral Native American population underwent neither a severe bottleneck nor rapid expansion in population size, during the migration of people into the Americas.

For online footage of Yanomami explaining why they want their relatives' blood back see above: NAPEPE: The Yanomami in their own words requesting the return of the blood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7608Vu-D_9U

Additional cases of Yanomami requesting the return of their blood and explaining the importance to them of the blood's return are presented in Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn From It --2005: 63-65)

Davi Kopenawa makes his concern clear. "My mother gave blood. Now my mother is dead. Her blood is over there [in the United States]. Whatever is of the dead must be destroyed. Our custom is that when the Yanomami die, we destroy everything. To keep it, in a freezer, is not a good thing." Toto Yanomami states: The doctors "collected these things: blood, urine [inaudible], saliva, and feces. I want it to come back to the Yanomami. . . . I want all of it returned. . . . Blood is important in shamanism. . . . All the blood of the Yanomami belongs to [the deity] Omami. . . . Those people have died! . . . Yanomami never take blood to keep. Yanomami don't . . . take blood to study and later keep [it] in the refrigerator. . . . The doctors have already examined this blood; they've already researched this blood. Doctors already took from this blood that which is good—for their children, for the future. . . . So we want to take all of this Yanomami blood that's left over." Ivanildo Wawanawetery makes the same point: "That person who donated blood and who . . . does not live anymore . . . that is an injustice. . . . Who knows . . . how many people have died and even today they have their blood. . . . [It] is in the other country. . . . Someone . . . who gave blood and no longer lives . . . and his blood is still in another country" . . .

The Yanomami remember receiving trade goods in exchange for their blood. Wawanawetery reports that the Americans "gave knives, beads, fishing line, and so they convinced the people" to give their blood. Kopenawa states: "The whites said things like this: 'I'm going to give you a machete . . . when you come give blood. . . . I'll give you fishing hooks!' That's why people went to them to give their blood."

Yanomami claim they were never informed that the blood would be stored past its initial examination in American laboratories. Kopenawa notes . . . "The American didn't help to explain . . . 'Look, this blood is going to stay many years.' He didn't say that. . . . The Yanomami were thinking that he would take the blood and then read it and then throw it away. That's what the Yanomami thought. That's why they gave the blood. . . . They thought it was to see some disease, malaria, tuberculosis, flu, or some other disease" . . . . Kopenawa repeats this point in his interview with [the anthropologist Bruce] Albert: "The white man didn't tell us . . . 'We're going to store your blood in the cold, and even if a long time goes by, even if you die, this blood is going to remain here'—he didn't tell us that! Nothing was said." . . .

To see the actual letter -- signed by Dr. Rodney A. Erickson (Executive Vice President and Provost of Pennsylvania State University) click on this link