Is Genetic Engineering the new Eugenics?

Is Genetic Engineering The

New Eugenics

Is Genetics the New Eugenics

Table of Contents

Introduction

The eugenics movement

Eugenic practices

Is Genetics the New Eugenics

Conclusion

References

Introduction

As a result of genetic developments since the early 1970s , new knowledge and subsequently new forms of control over DNA , human biology and the physiological processes relating to health and disease have begun to emerge . However , the rapid and accelerating progress being made in what is now being referred to as the 'new genetics ' has consequences far

br beyond the application of genetic technologies and techniques in laboratory settings . Swiftly accumulating genetic knowledge from the Human Genome Project is promising to revolutionize the study and treatment of genetic diseases , especially those that are severely disabling or fatal , or for which contemporary treatments are not appropriate

The development of new genetic technologies has resulted in comparisons being drawn between the many terrible atrocities once perpetrated in the name of eugenics and what might happen in the future . In the minds of most people , eugenics is usually associated with enforced sterilization racism , restrictive immigration policies and Nazi concentration camps (Glover ) There is a danger that the public and nurses will look at the new genetics and simply claim that it is unacceptable to them because of the past . The history of eugenics in the twentieth century suggests that this is a legitimate fear that needs to be addressed

The Eugenics Movement

Although the word 'eugenics ' was popularized by Francis Galton , the intellectual history of eugenics goes back centuries to the philosophers of ancient Greece . Eugenic ideas were discussed by Plato in The republic , when he stated that defective off-spring . will be quietly and secretly disposed of ' and that medicine administered by the state will provide treatment for those . citizens whose physical and psychological constitution is good as for the others , it will leave the unhealthy to die (Lee 1974 ,

. 174 . Eugenic thought was also apparent in Roman times the Spartans used to cast out babies who were considered unfit (in some cases being female was considered unfit , in to keep their stock `pure . These eugenic opinions were justified as socially acceptable because they were presented in terms of being in the interests of the state . This concern with the interests of the state was part of Galton 's transformation of eugenic ideas into a social theory

Francis Galton was an upper-class Englishman , a gentleman scientist , an explorer and a cousin of Charles Darwin . He is generally considered to be the founder of the eugenics movement (Wikler 1999 ) Coining the word eugenics from classical Greek roots 'eu ' meaning 'well ' and 'genos meaning 'birth , Galton claimed that this new concept should focus or 'the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations , either physically or mentally ' and that it should be a 'science which deals with all influences that improve and develop the inborn qualities of a race (Galton 1904 ,

. 82 . In 1904 Galton founded...