But I really don’t think what I wrote was misleading. OK, I suppose I should have been more specific but I did in fact specify the “genetic disorder”. The term haemochromatosis can be used to refer to any of a number of conditions that result in iron accumulation but by far the most common (0.5% live births, caucasians) is the one I was talking about, HFE. The others (types 2A, 2B, 3, 4 and other even rarer ones) are together called non-HFE haemochromatosis. HFE is due to autosomal (non-sex chromosome) recessive — which means you need to inherit two copies of the mutated gene; but this mutation is very common in Europeans hence the high rate.

I can only assume from what your wrote that your children have one of these others, such as 2A or 2B which are juvenile forms. HFE itself does not manifest until mid-life or later depending on personal history; for example it is now pretty certain that Ernest Hemingway had undiagnosed HFE and it drove him loopy at the very end (typical if untreated) but he actually lived quite a long life and almost certainly he was partly “protected” because he was in so many accidents in his life (some severe car accidents, a plane accident) and also possibly gave blood in the various war zones he placed himself in. Bleeding is of course why women generally do not suffer from HFE even with the identical gene mutation as men — they are protected until menarche and then generally there is not enough time to accumulate enough for symptoms late in life (though with everyone living so long these days…).
The symptoms in HFE males generally do not start manifesting until early 40s, but of course if you are a regular blood donor you may never know. It is true that even today HFE is not as reliably diagnosed as it should be, but most GPs are more aware of it and catch it. (In the first instance the feet are examined for the black deposits, then of course liver tests etc.) Also HFE doesn’t cause cancer, except perhaps in extremis indirectly via liver cirrhosis (but by then you’re in deep trouble anyway).

In Brisbane we have one of the world’s experts (and my prof a zillion years ago), Prof Laurie Powell — though he is pretty ancient he still has a clinic at RBH (I think).

mrj, whose contributions I usually respect, said:
“Excess iron is most commonly associated with the genetic disorder of haemochromatosis (the most common genetic disease in humans, only affects men).”

My daughter and, to a lesser extent, my son, are living with forms of this complaint. It is certainly not restricted only to males. It is also frequently misdiagnosed, often with severe consequences, because it is commonly asymptomatic till after major damage has been done.

Considering that this daughter has already had to deal with major cancer and is nowhere close to 40, she has plenty on her plate.

It’s essential that those such as mrj who profess to be qualified in matters such as this get their facts correct - people’s lives are, indeed, involved.

This is not the time or place for details. More information is available via Google or Wikipedia.

“John Boehner’s failure decisive — the other “man of colour” (so called because of his sun-lamp orange colour, actually due to excess iron)”

Excess iron is most commonly associated with the genetic disorder of haemochromatosis (the most common genetic disease in humans, only affects men). But the visible result is dark blotching, most commonly seen as black feet though eventually dark blotches appear in various parts of the body (which are actual iron deposits) — not to mention causing liver necrosis and all kinds of organ damage in time. Treatment is simply and effective: regular bleeding! (I’m sure there would be plenty of offers to help Boehner.)

If you reckon his colour is not due to sun-tanning, or even more likely spray-tan treatment, then an orange complexion is mostly due to carotenaemia which usually is from excess consumption of carrots. It is the β-carotene molecule that causes the orange colour in carrots and in fact most things orange in biology. (Oh, and unlike many highly-coloured bio-molecules no heavy metal is involved, like iron that causes haemoglobin to be red/brown.)

Another (unlikely) explanation is that he suffers from Erythropoietic protoporphyria which actually produces painful sun-sensitivity and unbearable itchy skin. The treatment is lots of β-carotene such that patients turn orange and this both reduces sun-sensitivity and the other symptoms a bit. But this is a pretty serious disease and would be obvious in damaged facial skin.

Another possibility is that there is an anti-ageing regime involving regular consumption of higher than normal carotene, as some studies show it can slow down cognitive decline. (I think it is on the basis of effectively its anti-oxidant properties.)

Google or Wikipedia doesn’t solve this for me, except that Boehner has denied he uses tanning beds or any tanning products. Some people claim it is due to his love of golf.

Some are saying he didn’t set out an agenda but that seems totally weird since I believe he set it out as clear as day — in a way he hasn’t done before — and it was suffused through the speech from beginning to end. Essentially it was “equality”, as in the Declaration of Independence. More, it produced the best line of the entire speech (and which Guy seems to have missed):

“we take these truths as self-evident …. but they are not self-executed”.

Thus, he has provided a political philosophy, tied directly to the beginnings of the republic, that will guide his second term. Education, health etc. Because, obviously, if they are not self-executed, it needs government to do the job intended by the founding fathers. It is exactly the anti-Reagan (even if, as designed, most fans of St Reagan will not realize).

In this speech, unlike almost all other Obama orations, he did not try to appeal across the board (no more elections for him) — he explicitly rejected the TP and their “takers” rhetoric. As GR says, there is plenty for the Repugs to get upset about but the tone was not provocative, just letting everyone know that if they didn’t want to be part of the governing consensus then he wasn’t wasting his efforts on them. (Something many older Republicans would agree with.) Not bad at all.
…………….
Of course the news clips are all showing Beyonce (and Kelly Clarkson) singing the anthem but did you catch JT with just voice and guitar!

Who cares if the agenda is not explicit. If Obama can get the American populace and/or Congress to agree to any change on any thing he’ll be a miracle worker.

The escalated use of drones (and the consequent killing of civilians) also convinces me Obama could’ve ‘done it better’.

He was never going to attain those heights, and in the end appeared somewhat ineffectual, however the anodyne opening to this presidency has perhaps set the expectations at a much more achievable level. In hindsight, he may appear to have achieved greatly, if only because the expectations are no so low.

The question that really needs answering is whether the political system in USA is now so fractured that genuine reform may be beyond them. Perhaps it is that a genuinely transformational President may be a thing of the past.

Who can say?