GSTM1 and thalassemia: Marouf et al. [83] conducted a comprehensive electrophoretic screening of the Kuwaiti population and showed that 23.5 per cent had abnormal hemoglobin genotypes, with beta-thalassemia minor (14%), sickle cell trait (6%), sickle cell anemia (0.9%), S beta zero thalassemia (0.8%) and S beta + thalassemia (0.8%) as most commonly identified hemoglobinopathies; they further identified two rare hemoglobin variants, Hb-D Punjab and Hb-E.