Alleles of the D2 dopamine receptor (DRD2) and the alcohol dehydrogenase 2 (ADH2) genes were determined in 69 French Polynesian alcoholic patients and 57 controls matched for racial origin. Three racial groups were studied: pure Polynesians (PP), Polynesians mixed with Caucasian (PCA) ancestry and Polynesians mixed with Chinese (PCH) ancestry. DRD2 A1 allele frequencies in the alcoholics compared to their controls in these groups were: PP,.26 vs .32 (P = .69); PCA, .44 vs .35 (P = .46); PCH, .40 vs 0.39 (P = .88). ADH2 1 allele frequencies in alcoholics compared to their controls groups were: PP, .56 vs .62 (P = .66); PCA, .75 vs .56 (P = .09); PCH, .78 vs .32 (P = .009). In the PCA group, the combination of the DRD2 A1 genotypes and the ADH2 1 homozygotes was strongly associated with alcoholism (P = .0027). This preliminary study shows the importance of ascertaining racial ancestry in molecular genetic association studies. Moreover, it suggests that a combination of genes are involved in susceptibility to the development of alcoholism.

Archaeological research in the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand, has disclosed earth ovens, middens and flaked stone tools dating to the thirteenth–fourteenth centuries AD. This is the first site of prehistoric settlement in the outlying islands of the Subantarctic. Polynesians and their dogs survived on seals and seabirds for at least one summer. The new data complete a survey of colonisation in the outlying archipelagos of South Polynesia and show that it occurred contemporaneously, rapidly and in all directions from mainland New Zealand.