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THanks for this really interesting post. We do seem to have diverged quite a bit from the main point, but I think we've learnt a lot, well I have, googling around:

Here's something from http://www.fsark.com/Multicultural/race.html

The notion of biological race is based on the premise that there are significant biological variables that can be used to separate one group of homo sapiens from another. Initially there were three racial categories proposed: negroid, mongoloid, and caucasoid. The variables used for this system were visible, external features such as skin color, hair color/texture and facial features. There are numerous problems with this taxonomy that only slowly came to light. First, members of each of these "biological races" can reproduce with members from any of the other two groups. For example, a female caucasoid and male mongoloid can produce a child together. The offspring would then need to be classified as a combination of the two races (CM). Meanwhile, the offspring of a mongoloid and negroid, (MN) could reproduce with the CM, resulting in a NCM. The net result here is obvious. The initial characteristics that were used to separate the "races" as if they were monumentally different are quickly dissolved. Hence, one must conclude that those biological variables really are not that significant.

A second natural criticism of the tripartite racial division of homo sapiens is that some groups do not fit into any of them. The Australian Aborigines are the most clear cut example of this. They have hair color and texture that would place them in the caucasoid race but skin color that would locate them in the negroid race. When researchers were confronted with this apparent anomaly they performed what is called a secondary elaboration (a secondary elaboration is done to rationalize a disparity in something where it was claimed there were none): they created a fourth race, australoid.

At this point it became fairly obvious to the scientific community that "race" was an arbitrarily assigned label. Even the apparently sound categories of caucasoid, mongoloid, and negroid look very suspicious when one considers this classification system came out of Europe when the known world consisted of Europe, Africa and Asia.

The notion of biological race was not discarded at this point. The scientists, rather than thinking the notion of biological race was defunct, simply believed they were using the wrong variables to classify the races. At the same time new medical technology allowed scientists to exam biological features that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. Among these new variables were blood type, sickle cell, and lactase enzyme. These features are distinct and significant. However, when homo sapiens are labeled with these three variables there is a complete lack of alignment of the variables. For example, a certain blood type does not consistently have sickle cell and the lactase enzyme. We find no systematic collation of variables. When the features of skin color, hair, facial features and even finger print types are thrown in the entire classification system loses credibility. The currently accepted conclusion is that biological race is arbitrarily imposed regardless of the variables selected: it is not a valid scientific concept and should be dismissed.