Do you have a proposed fix that press release writers and journalists can simply drop into articles that would fix the problem? Note that I didn't say headline writers; they're pretty much a lost cause unless you can think of something as catchy as "man bites dog." One of the points you bring up is that most of these are defects in a gene, so a lede that starts with "Scientists have discovered a genetic defect that leads to X" might be a good start. Or possibly "implicated in X."

Maybe the reason there haven't been a lot of surveys is that it's too easy to get hair and eye color from driver's license files? Granted, the breakdown isn't as fine, but it's there. 
 
John Roth