A new research that tries to correct history on why people are black or white is likely to generate heated debate with its argument that people look the way they do not because of the genetics or superiority, but because of the environment they live in.

The study disagrees with earlier theories that the dark skin of Africans and other people elsewhere evolved to protect them from cancer of the skin arising from the effects of the Sun's UltraViolet Rays (UVR). Or in some cases, as result of sexual selection, whereby dark females choose dark males.

The new theory also argues that there is nothing like the black race and the white race. "The use of skin colour to define the human race is a major mistake scientists have made in the last several years because there are no genetic based races," says DR Jablonski.

"There is no justification to categorise people like this because our research has shown that the skin colour evolved for specific reasons. We can only talk of dark and light people," she adds.

In taking such a position, the two scientists are discounting what has been the explanation for over 40 years on why black people are black. Their findings have been published in leading journals such as Human Evolution and science publications like Scientific America and New Scientist.

DR Jablonski, who has been giving talks in the United States, recently presented the study at the National Museum of Kenya, courtesy of the Pre-Historic Club of Kenya.

In the United States, she says, her explanation that the colour of skin is environmentally determined and not a sign of superiority is helping cool down feelings of racial violence and set people free.

They say that dark skin, a hallmark of Africans, Asian and the aborigine of Northern Australia, evolved to protect the destruction of vital vitamins in the body, which are responsible for reproduction of individuals and defence against diseases.

Vitamin B folate or folic acid in particular, is said to be relevant for making DNA and new cells in the body. It is important in people making new cells such as pregnant women, and for rapid reproduction of sperm cells in men.

Consequently, it determines the production of healthy children, who are necessary for the evolution process.

If then a folate deficiency occurred, evolution process of a certain people could be adversely affected or come to a halt. Or there would be several birth defects.

Studies have shown that such defects are rare in Africans, and researchers suspect the high melanin content in their skin is behind all this protection.

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