Blonds Finally Taken Off The Endangered Species List

Here’s one less thing for you to worry about: It’s untrue that a World Health Organization study concluded that blonds are likely to become extinct within 200 years.

The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society (snopes.com) found that, despite published accounts to the contrary a while back, the agency conducted no such research. A WHO spokesman said the disappearing-blonds report was a hoax.

The report is raised again — and refuted — in “Next,” Michael Crichton’s new potboiler about genetics, which gives snopes.com a plug in the footnotes.

Snopes discovered, by the way, that similar stories date back more than 100 years, mentioning one 1890 article that declared blonds were on the way out “due to a stronger male preference for brunettes as matrimonial partners.”

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