Is Genetics the New Eugenics Essay Example for Free

Is Genetics the New Eugenics EssayIntroduction As a rsult of gntic dvlopmnts sinc th arly 1970s, nw knowldg and subsquntly nw forms of control ovr DNA, hu manhood biology and th physiological procsss rlating to halth and disas hav bgun to mrg. Howvr, th rapid and acclrating progrss bing mad in what is now bing rfrrd to as th nw gntics has consquncs further byond th application of gntic tchnologis and tchniqus in laboratory sttings. Swiftly accumulating gntic knowldg from th Human Gnom Projct is promising to rvolutioniz th study and tratmnt of gntic disass, spcially thos that ar svrly disabling or fatal, or for which contmporary tratmnts ar not appropriat. Th dvlopmnt of nw gntic tchnologis has rsultd in comparisons bing drawn btwn th many terrible atrocitis onc prptratd in th nam of ugnics and what might happn in th futur.In th minds of most popl, ugnics is usually associatd with nforcd strilization, racism, rstrictiv immigration policis and Nazi concntration camps. (Glovr) Th r is a dangr that th public and nurss will look at th nw gntics and simply cl produce that it is unaccptabl to thm bcaus of th past. Th history of ugnics in th twntith cntury suggsts that this is a lgitimat far that nds to b addrssd. Th ugnics MovmntAlthough th word ugnics was popularizd by Francis Galton, th intllctual history of ugnics gos back cnturis to th philosophrs of ancint Grc. ugnic idas wr conversed by Plato in Th rpublic, whn h statd that dfctiv off-sp phone . . . will b quitly and scrtly disposd of and that mdicin administrd by th stat will provid tratmnt for thos . . . citizns whos physical and psychological constitution is good as for th othrs, it will lav th unhalthy to di (L 1974, p. 174).ugnic thought was also apparnt in Roman tims th Spartans usd to cast out babis who wr considrd unfit (in som cass bing fmal was considrd unfit), in ordr to kp thir stock pur. Ths ugnic opinions wr justifid as mixerly accptabl bcaus thy wr prsntd in trms of bing in th intrsts of t h stat. This concrn with th intrsts of th stat was part of Galtons transformation of ugnic idas into a social thory. Francis Galton was an uppr-class nglishman, a gntlman scintist, an xplorr and a cousin of Charls Darwin.H is gnrally considrd to b th foundr of th ugnics movmnt. (Wiklr 1999) Coining th word ugnics from classical Grk roots (u maning wll and gnos maning birth), Galton claimd that this nw concpt should focus or th study of agncis undr social control that may improv or impair th racial qua lighten upis of futur gnrations, ithr physically or mntally and that it should b a scinc which dals with all influncs that improv and dvlop th inborn qualitis of a rac (Galton 1904, p. 82).In 1904 Galton foundd th National ugnics Laboratory, followd by th ugnics ducation Socity in 1907, whos aim was to ducat th British public about ugnics. H also stablishd th acadmic journal, ugnics Rviw. (Kvls 1999) Although intrst in ugnic idals first aros in Britain, it sprad rapidly to most of th i ndustrializd aras of th world by th make of th cntury. Thr wr ugnic movmnts in many othr countris, vn in thos with such disparat culturs as th USA, Canada, Russia, Franc, Norway, Swdn, Italy, Argntina, Mxico, South Africa, India, China and Japan.(Wiss 1987) Most industrializd socitis wr xprincing similar changs and pattrns of dvlopmnt at th start of th twntith cntury. Th pr-xisting intllctual climat of social Darwinism, in conjunction with th litratur producd by lading ugnicists and th xprinc of rapidly changing social conditions, such as continud industrialization, th growth of big businsss, th straggling of citis and slums, and massiv migrations from th countrysid and abroad, all combind to crat popular ugnics movmnts in many placs.(Kvls 1995) Sarl has aptly summarizd th popularity of th ugnics movmnt in Britain bfor World War II. (Sarl 1976) H claims that it gaind popularity bcaus scinc was hld in high stm during th first half of th twntith cntury it providd validation of class and racial inqualitis it was a rspons to prcivd infficincis in social wlfar policis, and it providd an altrnativ to what was thought of as th facil nvironmntalism of th lat Victorian ra (Sarl 1976, pp.114-15).Th factors h discusss with rgard to Britain wr applicabl to both th USA and Grmany and to ugnics movmnts world-wid. All socitis had povrty, crim, prostitution, alcoholism and disas, which wr blivd to b gntically rlatd and hnc amnabl to ugnic masurs, (Kvls 1995) but thy had nvr bfor possssd th wight of statistical information, xpanding yarly by volums, that numrically dtaild th magnitud of its problms (Kvls 1995, p. 72).(n14) All of ths issus providd th backdrop aga instantaneous which ugnics could flourish. ugnic Practics Galton dividd th practic of ugnics into two typs positiv and ngativ both of which ndavourd to improv th human rac through slctiv brding. Positiv ugnics aimd at ncouraging parnts with charactristics or traits that wr dmd laudabl by socity to produc mor child rn, whras ngativ ugnics attmptd to minimis th transmission to futur gnrations of traits that wr lif-thratning, harmful or of no civic worth.Th policy masurs that wr advocatd by arly ugnicists during th first dcads of th twntith cntury in pursuit of both positiv and ngativ ugnics wr xtrmly varid. Policis for ngativ ugnics, howvr, wr far mor common and mor frquntly implmntd, and so ar discussd first. Th first systmatic attmpts to dvlop mandatory ngativ ugnic policis and programms occurrd in th USA.Som of ths includd stringnt marriag laws which prvntd th marriag of undsirabls, such as popl with larning difficultis voluntary and compulsory strilization sxual sgrgation of popl with physical and mntal disabilitis strictr control of immigrants and prmarital physical xaminations. Th primary aim of ths programms was to prvnt rproduction by popl who wr judgd to b unfit. Includd in this cat gory of th unfit wr thos suffring from insanity, pilpsy, alcoholism, pauprism, criminality, sxual prvrsi on, drug abus, and spcially fblminddnss.(Hubbard 1986, p.230), as wll as thos suffring from tubrculosis and syphilis. (Glovr) Of all of ths ngativ ugnic options, strilization was th on that was practisd th most widly. In Grmany, for xampl, btwn 1900 and th 19308, at last 200 000 prsons who wr dmd unfit to rproduc wr strilizd. (Glovr 2005, p. 134) In th USA in 1927, a notorious Suprm Court cas uphld a stat statut for strilizing Carri Buck, a fbl-mindd ightn yar gray who was th daughtr of a fbl-mindd mothr and th mothr of an illgitimat fbl-mindd child (Annas 1981, p.18).Individuals with mntal dfcts wr blivd to hav inhritd thir condition and wr thought to b incurabl. Th minnt Amrican judg, Olivr Wndall Holms, spaking for th Suprm Court, claimd It is bttr for all th world, if instad of waiting to xcut dgnrat off-spring for crim, or lt thm starv for thir imbcility, socity can prvnt thos who ar manifstly unfit from continuing thir kind . . . Thr gnrations of imbcils ar nough. (Buchanan 2000, p. 46).Positiv ugnic policis covrd masurs dsignd to ncourag th procration of bttr childrn and th promotion of a ugnic conscinc in socity. Many positiv ugnicists tndd to b social radicals, such as Gorg Brnard Shaw, and wr oftn inclind to utopian visions. Galton, howvr, advocatd a systm of arrangd marriags btwn prsons of distinction in ordr to produc giftd childrn. H argud that, in ordr to augmnt favourd stock in Britain, diplomas should b givn to young popl of th highr classs and thir intrmarriag ncouragd.(Kvls 1995) On xampl of a positiv ugnic programm that rachd fruition was th spcial matrnity hospitals and homs for xpctant mothrs in Grmany that wr part of Hinrich Himmlrs Lbnsborn programm. (Windling 2000) Othr xampls includd calls for th rgistration of midwivs in th vamoose that th gnral standard of childcar would b improvd. In th UK proposals wr mad for tax rbats to hlp covr th costs of matrnity and child-raring, spcially for mritorious familis (Kvls 1995, p.91).Although u gnics is usually associatd with right-wing xtrmists, thos on th lft of th political spctrum wr also sympathtic to ugnic idals. Modrn supportrs of th political lft oftn gloss ovr th many historical links with ugnics. (Dustr 1990) ugnic thought was in clos continuity with th classical idology of th British bourgoisi and many intllctuals had rachd maturity in th poch in which social administration and ugnics wr closly intrtwind (Jons 1980, p.170).Howvr, World War II and its aftermostrmath, during which th horrors of mdical xprimntation and mass xtrmination wr rvald, is oftn sn as th dcisiv factor in th rjction of ugnics. Aftr th War, public opinion rjctd ugnics and sought altrnativ ways of tackling social issus. Thr was a shift in dmocratic stats toward th adoption of collctivist solutions for social problms and th idology of galitarianism rapidly sprad across urop.