epigenetics research south asia

Implications of Epigenetics Research in the Context of DNA Methylation: A South Asian Focus

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The British Raj's colonial policies led to recurring famines in South Asia, causing genetic and health repercussions that persist today. Epigenetic research, particularly on DNA methylation, links these famines to higher cardiovascular disease rates among South Asians. This research paper focuses on the need for intergenerational justice through targeted healthcare policies, funding, and international reparations to address the colonial legacy and prevent future exploitation.

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According to the World Health Organization, South Asians make up 25% of the world’s population but comprise over 50% of the world’s cardiovascular disease deaths (Conditions treated, n.d). During the reign of the British Raj, the South Asian subcontinent faced a multitude of famines, which could have been prevented had the necessary policies been implemented. Current epigenetic research—defining the way one’s environment affects the way one’s genes work—shows the effects of these famines, with results indicating a much higher presence of cardiovascular disease in South Asians as opposed to other ethnic groups. Epigenetic research has immense potential to bring about intergenerational justice at an international scale through the implementation of health policies and programs. 

The British Raj 

The British first took hold of the Indian subcontinent when the East India Company formed maritime trading posts in southern India to avoid conflict with the Mongols on the Silk Road (Baber, 2000). The company overthrew the Nawab (ruler) of Bengal in 1757 and replaced him with a figurehead. Ultimately, the British Government controlled the East India Company’s policies. Over the next 80 years, through several wars, treaties, and annexations, the East India Company, and therefore the British Government, took control of the subcontinent. 

In 1857, the Indian population revolted against the British in the Sepoy Mutiny due to the incorporation of pork and beef cartridges in rifles, which were sacrilegious for Muslims and Hindus (Baber, 2000). When the mutiny ceased two years later in 1859, the British Government blamed the East India Company for the uprising, and promptly abolished the company, taking full control of its policies and hold in the subcontinent. The British then kept a hold of the subcontinent until 1947. 

Famines

According to British demographer Cornelius Walford, the Indian subcontinent experienced at least 31 famines in the 200 years of colonization by the British (Siddiqui, 2023).

Colonial Policies

The prevalence of famines in the subcontinent can be attributed to the refusal of the British Government to reimplement pre-colonial policies that were effective in times of low production of crops. Famines were not unheard of in pre-colonial India; however, there were several measures taken, such as government distribution of food or relief works, to prevent them or to mitigate their effects (Famine Policy, n.d.). 

The British, focused on improving their own economy and implemented unrestricted export of crops from India, leaving an insufficient amount for the South Asian population, even in times when famine looked imminent. They had adopted Malthusian beliefs, the justification that the rate of population growth far exceeds the growth of food supply (Mallik, 2022). 

Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of England and thought to be a hero in the Western world, pinned the blame of the Bengal Famine on the Indians themselves

“I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.” 

-Winston Churchill

These beliefs further exacerbated the British’s dehumanizing perspective of South Asians. Although it may seem simplistic to pin the blame solely on the British, several external factors such as inadequate rainfall and wars between neighboring states may have resulted in the famines. However, the depletion of food sources was a direct result of the British failure to stop the export of food outside of the subcontinent.

Contemporary Social Impacts of the Famines in South Asia

The famine had a disastrous impact on all those affected. When faced with extreme and dire hunger, Indian citizens were forced to resort to various forms of labor to make ends meet. This desperation eventually led to various independence movements, propelling the way towards Indian independence. However, there was no international litigation passed against the British, and no international measures were taken to prevent atrocities of this kind from occurring in future colonial empires (Siddiqui, 2023). There were also no reparations given to those who had suffered from various side effects of the famine like being forced into sexual labor, not having access to clothing, or the rampant spread of disease.

Exploitation of Women

Women and girls were coerced into sexual labor to provide for their families, a classic symptom of famine (Malik, 2022). They joined these types of jobs either out of desperation to try to feed their family, or as a result of loans taken out by their family from the wealthy in order to provide for themselves.

The Cloth Famine

Clothing was also scarce during the Bengal Famine in 1943 as England was fighting World War II and took textile imports from India to clothe their own soldiers. This left many of the starving and financially struggling people of Bengal without clothing (Mallik, 2022). The lack of proper protection against the harsh climate led to greater deaths in the winter. 

Catastrophic Hygiene Standards and Disease

The scarce amount of clothing available was unsanitary due to large-scale migrations during these famines that resulted in refugee camps with subpar living standards. Additionally, the influx of death led to bodies being dumped in rivers and streams, contaminating water sources, and leading to diseases such as cholera (Mallik, 2022). The cycle of death causing disease and vice versa continued through all the famines during the British Raj. Disease was not a temporary issue during famines and continued after in both survivors and their descendants. 

Epigenetic Consequences

The lingering effects of the famines are apparent in South Asia and its natives even today, further investigated through epigenetic research. Epigenetics research seeks to examine the social determinants of health; conditions in which an individual is born, grows, lives, works, and ages, that affect their and their descendants’ genetics (Yehuda, 2018). 

DNA Methylation

DNA Methylation is an epigenetic modification regulated by the enzyme DNA methyltransferase and is the process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule. DNA methylation is involved in various cellular processes such as embryonic development, X-chromosome activation, and preservation of chromosome stability (Sheilds, 2021). Methyl groups act as signals along the DNA molecule, turning some genetic activity off and some on. There are two separate locations where DNA methylation occurs including in the promoter of the gene where it represses gene transcription, and in the gene body where it promotes transcription (Sheilds, 2021). Through transcription, and later translation, enzymes read an individual’s genetic code to produce proteins: molecules that are needed for the human body to perform properly by composing enzymes and antibodies. 

Gene Expression

When a gene is expressed, a specific protein will be produced. Promotor DNA methylation leads to the silencing of these genes and, therefore the failure to produce proteins. In times of heightened stress, such as famines, the body may increase promoter methylation in genes that involve metabolism, affecting insulin signaling or fat storage. While these changes “may be beneficial for health and survival in the short run [they] might also be detrimental in a longer perspective” (Bygren, 2014). 

If this methylation occurs in sperm or egg cells, they are able to be passed on to the next generation. Methylation can reduce the expression of genes that regulate vital physiological processes such as insulin resistance, causing cardiovascular disease that progresses through generations.

Effects of Famine

Due to the abundance of famines that occurred during the British Raj, the likelihood that a South Asian today had ancestors who went through multiple famines is extremely high. These famines resulted in physical and mental stress in those who experienced them, transforming their and their offspring’s genomes in fatal ways. 

Physical Effects

The famines led to descendants’ bodies holding more fat and becoming insulin resistant to survive in the chance they also face a famine. Research by Brown University shows that utero famine exposure can lead to a 1.75 times greater chance of type 2 diabetes—a side effect seen through generations (Famine Alters, 2016). South Asians have a much higher mortality rate from heart disease which is also typically earlier, as compared to different ethnic groups (Patel, 2021). These disparities are in partial due to the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among South Asians being on average 7 times greater than that among white Americans, even while having lower rates of cigarette smoking and obesity (Review, 2021). Therefore, prescriptions given to South Asians, especially in the West, are often ineffective due to insufficient research done on their specific genomes. 

Even during childhood, when external factors such as smoking are considered highly unlikely, South Asians have higher cholesterol and lipoprotein blood levels. These results also suggest a stronger genetic influence on cardiovascular disease than with modifiable risk factors such as hypertension (Patel, 2021). The British Raj caused millions of deaths both during, and almost a hundred years after the end of their reign in South Asia. 

Transgenerational Mental Trauma

The physical effects of famines are seen not only in epigenetic research but also in psychological effects. The prevalence of mental trauma is not singular to South Asia but is also seen in other conflict situations such as the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, where descendants acknowledge a large prevalence of “PTSD and other mental disorders” in their community (Hale, 2022). Behavioral difficulties in offspring such as anxiety, guilt, and dysphoria have been shown to be a result of their surviving parents’ inability to discuss their trauma efficiently. Examples of trauma-induced habits include maladaptive behaviors such as hoarding items that can be passed on to descendants, creating anxiety in the next generation (Mallik, 2022). 

Intergenerational Justice

There has been litigation passed against current colonial powers, such as with the International Criminal Court filing a case against Israel for violating human rights in Palestine, and litigation against companies who have had chemicals in their products that caused infertility and cancer in second and third generations, such as with diethylstilbestrol in the United States (Kinney, 2001). 

According to the World Health Organization, the right to the “highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” is written in many international legal documents, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (WHO, 2023). However, Pakistan and Bangladesh have not ratified the International Covenant, and the Declaration is a call to action, such as the American Declaration of Independence, and not a legally binding document.

Implementation 

The question of how to implement human rights effectively and efficiently to health into a binding international law is complex. Eleanor D. Kinney at the McKinney Law Institute writes that many models of administrative regulation as the implementation of rights “may not be particularly effective” (Kinney, 2001). However, through the implementation of a binding human right of health, the argument of “epigenetics being added” arises. The international right to health must address both current and future health issues should be addressed. Through this human right, South Asian countries, and other countries affected health-wise by colonization, can file reports against colonial powers, demanding reparations in the form of funding for both research and health care for these diseases.

Policies

Funding is crucial to help mitigate the effects of controllable factors like obesity, even though they do not contribute to the South Asian cardiovascular epidemic at the same level as they do with other ethnic groups. The results of epigenetic research highlight the special attention South Asian health needs in the medical field. 

Some programs, such as the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center developed a South Asian Health initiative, focus on the health disparities faced by South Asian communities; however, there has been a lack of these programs on an international level (Review, 2021). Aside from international programs, community institutions can play a vital role in initiating, and integrating, healthy behaviors such as exercise and a healthy diet within South Asian communities to help prevent some factors that could further heighten the risk of cardiovascular disease. A lack of funding exists not only in South Asia but worldwide, in research to help prevent or mitigate the effects of colonial biopolitics. Epigenetic research could help determine the specific altered genes that cause an increased risk of cardiovascular disease so that preventative medicines can be created.

Repercussions

Despite its many benefits, epigenetic research has sparked a discussion of potential genetic discrimination and lack of privacy. As many genetic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease in South Asians, are prevalent in historically marginalized communities, a risk of discriminatory laws being passed because of epigenetic research arises. For example, in the 1970s, states forced individuals to test for sickle cell anemia, a disease that disproportionately affects the black community (Davidson, 2024). The results were used to discriminate against African Americans in both the community and workplace.

Epigenetic prevalence can cause discrimination in the workplace, as employers would be able to tell which one of their potential employees could fall sick in the coming years, causing them to not employ them. Fear of genetic discrimination could also cause individuals from marginalized communities to abandon the notion of genetic testing, further putting their communities at risk (Davidson, 2024). While epigenetic justice should be pushed in international court, legislation protecting individuals’ rights to epigenetic privacy is crucial to ensure that affected communities feel safe in attempting to improve their health.

Conclusion

Epigenetic research proves vital for intergenerational justice for descendants of colonized peoples as it allows for more efficient and accurate health care. The British Raj’s colonial policies led to a rapid increase in famines in the South Asian subcontinent, resulting in genetic modifications. Through this research, it has become known that the disproportionate rate of cardiovascular disease in South Asians today results from colonial biopolitics. Presenting these findings in front of an international court could result in reparations in the form of funding for research and institutions that educate and help mitigate the effects of cardiovascular disease in the South Asian subcontinent. Bringing this issue to an international stage can help prevent atrocities like famines from occurring in future and current colonial empires.

References

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About the Author(s)
Nawal Nazir
+ posts

She is a senior in high school in Arizona and plans on pursuing a double major in Global Health and Biotechnology for her undergrad.