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Eugenics movement of the past and today’s genetic testing (reasons, consequences, ethical issues, implications)
Debates around eugenics
Debates around eugenics
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Eugenics have been around in the United States as early as the nineteenth century. Sir Francis Galton, the cousin of Charles Darwin, believed the world would vastly improve with the use of selective breeding in individual with the most desirable traits. However, the people considered with unsatisfying traits, were sterilized without their permission. Numerous people found this method to be unethical and morally wrong. Many believed that creating the perfect human race was humorously impossible, considering everyone views ‘perfection’ in different ways. The attempt to perfect the human race by controlling reproduction with eugenics is not only unethical, but it is also stealing the unique traits that make a person who they truly are.
The history of eugenics is the backbone to the ideas surrounding the topic today. There are three total definitions of “eugenics” which were all coined in the nineteenth century. Eugenics is the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such
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means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics). Surprisingly enough, the word eugenics means “good” and “origin”; in other words, “good birth”. On a similar note, eugenics became an extremely popular social movement during the nineteen twenty’s and nineteen thirties.
Contests were held for the best looking family or baby, there were movies and books promoting eugenics and even a film called The Black Stork; based on a true story, depicted as heroic, a doctor that allowed a syphilitic infant to die after convincing the child’s parents that it was better to spare society one more outcast (Rivard). Some pictures even reveal a sign on the street that reads “Unfit human traits such as feeblemindedness, epilepsy, criminality, insanity, alcoholism, pauperism, and many others run in families and are inherited in exactly the same way as color in guinea pigs. If all marriages were eugenic, we could breed out most of this unfitness in three generations”. (Remsberg) Sadly enough, most of the eugenics movement focused heavily on the negative side rather than the
positive. On the other hand, eugenics has been a controversial topic for several years with some deeming it pseudoscience. The main controversies today include the decision of which traits are ‘the best’ and which are ‘unfit’. given the complexity of human genetics, culture, and psychology, there is at this point no agreed objective means of determining which traits might be ultimately desirable or undesirable. (New World Encyclopedia) Innumerable people have argued that this “non-violent” form of biological “advance” will be primarily motivated by individual competitiveness and the desire to create “the best opportunities” for children, rather than the urge to enhance the species as a whole, which almost pairs with the early twentieth century form of eugenics. Similarly, eugenic ideas could also lead to the loss of genetic diversity, in which a culturally approved enhancement of the gene pool may exist but would result in biological catastrophe due to heightened vulnerability to disease, decreased capability to adapt to environmental shift and other known and unknown factors. A long-term plan for eugenics is feasible to lead to a similar scenario of this, considering the eradication of traits presumed undesirable would diminish genetic diversity. The eradication of mental illness and disorders were also a controversy. Although some hereditary diseases are generally considered disorders with an evident transmission pattern throughout generations, many other diseases, such as autism, heart disease and schizophrenia have a genetic component but do not have a palpable transmission pattern. Since these convoluted genetic disorders cannot be secluded to a single genetic cause, are caused by not only genetic factor but environmental factors too, and could possibly lead to new mutations, predictions cannot be made with certainty. This is a crucial distinction to make considering many of these conditions observed for sterilization were not necessarily hereditary diseases. Equally important, eugenics may be a controversial topic among the world, with most opposing, yet some people have solid supportive arguments. Considering the eugenics movement revolved around negative rather than positive, eugenics may not be as bad as they seem. The main goal of positive eugenics was to improve the performance and health of the entire population by expanding the reproduction rate of those who were blessed with the best traits and capabilities. Positive eugenics aimed for a higher reproduction rate among those with the most desirable traits while negative aimed for limiting the reproduction rate of ‘normal’ people with undesired traits. In other words, the people with the ‘best’ traits would reproduce with each other, resulting in their idea of a perfect baby. On the contrary, Adolf Hitler, the ruler foreseeing Nazi Germany, was infamous for eugenic programs that fell under the category of “racial hygiene”. During the eugenics movement, the Nazis performed pervasive experimentation on living humans to test their genetic info and theories. These experiments ranged from simple and sweet to terrifyingly horrific. During the nineteen thirties and nineteen forties, the Nazi regime forcibly sterilized an endless number of people whom they deemed physically and mentally “unfit”. An estimated four hundred thousand between nineteen thirty-four and nineteen thirty-seven were sterilized by the Nazis. Eugenics was a popular idea and theory in the early twentieth century but is now seen as immoral. Plenty of people no longer take eugenics seriously because of the atrocity and horrors of the eugenic epidemic of the Nazis in Germany. In conclusion, the negative side and history of eugenics has caused several people to look down on it while the positive side shows seldom advance of safe or satisfying practices. Using eugenics to create designer babies or children who are extremely intelligent is an impractical idea. Appointing and removing a person’s specific genes should not be performed because it is the incorrect approach to the constriction of an intelligent, vigorous, and tenacious population. As mentioned above, a species with a limited gene pool is immensely susceptible to any change if occurring in the environment. If the planet itself changes, which is practically guaranteed, society will be stuck at a dead end forever. The best bet for the entire population is to be consistent with the way we are and reproduce with the exact same approach as the last thousands of years. It is ethically and morally wrong to control breeding and choose traits for another human being without permission.
The American Eugenics Movement was led by Charles Davenport and was a social agenda to breed out undesirable traits with an aim of racial purification. Eugenics was a used to breed out the worst and weakest to improve the genetic composition of the human race, and advocated for selective breeding to achieve this. The science of eugenics rested on simple mendelian genetics, which was a mistake because they were assuming complex behaviors could be reduced to simple mendelian genes. After Nazi Germany adopted the ideas behind the American eugenics movement to promote the Aryan race, the eugenics movement was completely discredited.
Neoeugenics is the idea of new, “neo”, eugenics or a new way of creating a healthier race. Eugenics was first defined in the late 1800s by a man named Sir Francis Galton who said that it was basically the study of traits that will cause an advantage or disadvantage in the traits of future generations. Eugenics soon turned from being about the use of artificial selection of breeding to create a stronger species, to being about the advancement of certain races over others. When talking about neo eugenics, it is believed that it may turn into something similar to that of eugenics in that the use of artificial selection would now be used to bring the upper class higher in standards of health and wellbeing as well as beauty. Others believe that the use of neo eugenics will help create a healthier, more stable species. Whether bad or good, the way that eugenics will advance will be in designer babies.
Galton, David J., and Clare J. Galton. "Francis Galton: And Eugenics Today." Journal of Medical Ethics, 24.2 (1998): 99-101. JSTOR. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.
Eugenics has been an increasingly popular concept in recent films and texts. The presence of eugenics in these films and texts has caused people to believe that eugenics could be helpful in society. The idea that the perfect person can be created or modified is simply irrational. Each individual person’s qualities are created by their surroundings as they grow up. In Always With Us, Howard Horwitz wishes that the eugenics movement in the United States never had gathered steam. The negative aspects of eugenics that Horowitz discusses are noticeable in works such as Gattaca, A Brave New World, and The Blade Runner. The notion that eugenics is a positive for society limits individuals’ potential by predetermining what they can achieve. By predetermining
The concept of eugenics was not initially intended to prevent overcrowding, however, it would later be used as a form of population control. Eugenics is the idea of improving society by breeding fitter people. Francis Galton was the first person to originate this term and was a major proponent of the concept during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The practice of eugenics was originally performed through the use of selective breeding. Eugenics was a progressive idea, driven by social perceptions. In fact, "many of its most strident advocates were socialist, who saw eugenics as enlightened state planning of reproduction."2 Fearing the degradation of society, the elite desired to prevent further social decay of the world by eliminating individuals who were considered unfit physically, mentally, or socially.
The term eugenics was coined in the late 19th century. Its goal was to apply the breeding practices and techniques used in plants and animals to human reproduction. Francis Galton stated in his Essays in Eugenics that he wished to influence "the useful classes" in society to put more of their DNA in the gene pool. The goal was to collect records of families who were successful by virtue of having three or more adult male children who have gain superior positions to their peers. His view on eugenics can best be summarized by the following passage:
The practice of eugenics was instituted in the late nineteenth century. Its objective was to apply the rearing practices and procedures utilized as a part of plants and creatures to human procreation. Francis Galton expressed in his Essays in Eugenics that he wished to impact "the useful classes" in the public arena to put a greater amount of their DNA in the gene pool. The objective was to gather records of families who were effective by virtue of having three or more grown-up male kids who had better positions than their associates. His perspective on eugenics can best be expressed by the accompanying section:
The eugenics movement was a period of time when it was believe that the genes of your father and mother gave rise to any and all traits, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and moral. Essentially, eugenics established that all of a persons appearance, skill, and potential was rooted in your genes.
Eugenics- Eugenics is a term coined by Francis Galton in 1883 and it is the belief and practice of improving the genetic quality of the human population. This idea that one could trace hereditary problems and find solutions for them gained significant ground in addressing certain societal issues such as poor people and welfare. Two types of eugenics emerged, positive and negative, but the U.S., negative eugenics was preferred. This is the idea of destroying defectives and degenerates from the population to promote and preserve the fittest, a very social Darwinist idea. This is important to sexuality because many homosexuals were sterilized, thus creating the stigma that homosexuality was a disease that could be cured.
Seven-foot, blonde haired, blue-eyed super-humans bearing the swastika and marching in perfect Aryan rhythm, bred to be smarter, stronger, superior. This is a typical image when people hear the word eugenics, but there are two distinct branches: negative eugenics, which looks at removing undesirables and degenerates from society, and positive eugenics, which looks to promote the positive hereditary traits within society. In this essay I will Look at both sides of the eugenics argument in order to find a conclusion.
The eugenics movement started in the early 1900s and was adopted by doctors and the general public during the 1920s. The movement aimed to create a better society through the monitoring of genetic traits through selective heredity. Over time, eugenics took on two different views. Supporters of positive eugenics believed in promoting childbearing by a class who was “genetically superior.” On the contrary, proponents of negative eugenics tried to monitor society’s flaws through the sterilization of the “inferior.”
The idea of eugenics was first introduced by Sir Francis Galton, who believed that the breeding of two wealthy and successful members of society would produce a child superior to that of two members of the lower class. This assumption was based on the idea that genes for success or particular excellence were present in our DNA, which is passed from parent to child. Despite the blatant lack of research, two men, Georges Vacher de Lapouge and Jon Alfred Mjoen, played to the white supremacists’ desires and claimed that white genes were inherently superior to other races, and with this base formed the first eugenics society. The American Eugenics Movement attempted to unethically obliterate the rising tide of lower classes by immorally mandating organized sterilization and race based experimentation.
Those with negative, undesirable, or inferior traits may be discouraged from having offspring. They may be sterilized, or undergo dangerous medical procedures or operations with high mortality rates. I chose this topic because it appealed to me and seemed interesting. In the following paragraphs, the tactics, methods, and propaganda the Nazi’s used will be exposed. Adolf Hitler (the Führer or leader of the Nazi party) “believed that a person's characteristics, attitudes, abilities, and behavior were determined by his or her so-called racial make-up.”
However, the perfect been in the dystopian short story was not equivalent to perfect in Eugenics . Harrison Bergeron persisted on making everyone equal. Equal in looks, strength, talents, and intelligence, but for the worse. Men and women that had extraordinary talents, strength, looks, and intelligence were brought down by the government to be equal to the men and women that weren’t as talented. In Eugenics , people were sterilized if they were not “normal”. In the early 1900s, American breeders Association focused on “ investigating and reporting on heredity in the human race, and emphasizing the value of superior blood and the men in minutes to society of inferior blood”. Also, in 1869 many states started an act to marriage laws with eugenic criteria, prohibiting anyone who was “epileptic, imbecile or feeble minded” from marrying. It took years for sterilization to become a law in states with one exception. By 1921, California had accounted for 80% of the sterilizations nationwide. Moreover, in only 64 years, California had about 20,000 forced
When created in 1923, the American Eugenics Society exemplified an air of reform with a seemingly positive purpose, however this cannot be further from the truth. In reality, the society polluted the air with myths of weeding out imperfections with the Galtonian ideal, the breeding of the fittest (Carison). The founder of the society, Charles Davensport , preached that those who are imperfect should be eliminated(Marks). From the school desk to the pulpit, the fallacies of the eugenics movement were forced into society. Preachers often encouraged the best to marry the best while biology professors would encourage DNA testing to find out ones fate (Selden). A...