GSTM1 and thalassemia: We carried out an epidemiological project on the molecular basis of α-thalassemia in southern Italy and identified two new variants in the third exon of the α-globin gene: the Hb Rogliano, α1 cod 108 ACC>AAC or α1[α108(G15)ThrAsn] and the Hb Policoro, α2 cod 124 TCC>CCC or α2 [α124(H7)Ser→Pro] [10,11].