Eugenics - Wikipedia. Eugenics (; from Greek . The definition of it as a .
In this period, eugenic ideas were espoused across the political spectrum. Consequently, many countries adopted eugenic policies meant to improve the genetic stock of their countries. Such programs often included both . People deemed unfit to reproduce often included people with mental or physical disabilities, people who scored in the low ranges of different IQ tests, criminals and deviants, and members of disfavored minority groups. The eugenics movement became negatively associated with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust when many of the defendants at the Nuremberg trials attempted to justify their human rights abuses by claiming there was little difference between the Nazi eugenics programs and the US eugenics programs. Furthermore, negative eugenics in particular is considered by many to be a violation of basic human rights, which include the right to reproduction. Another criticism is that eugenic policies eventually lead to a loss of genetic diversity, resulting in inbreeding depression instead due to a low genetic variation.
History. Galton had read his half- cousin Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which sought to explain the development of plant and animal species, and desired to apply it to humans. Based on his biographical studies, Galton believed that desirable human qualities were hereditary traits, though Darwin strongly disagreed with this elaboration of his theory. Both sought support from leading clergymen, and modified their message to meet religious ideals. Eugenic policies were first implemented in the early 1. United States. In addition to being practiced in a number of countries, eugenics was internationally organized through the International Federation of Eugenics Organizations. Its scientific aspects were carried on through research bodies such as the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, the Cold Spring Harbour Carnegie Institution for Experimental Evolution, and the Eugenics Record Office. Politically, the movement advocated measures such as sterilization laws.
In its moral dimension, eugenics rejected the doctrine that all human beings are born equal, and redefined moral worth purely in terms of genetic fitness. Its racist elements included pursuit of a pure . Created with intention of raising the birth rate of . Many countries enacted.
Racial overtones also pervaded much of the British and American eugenics literature. Moreover, suggestions for expanding eugenics programs. Eugenics, euthanasia and American race. The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics.
German and American Eugenics in the pre-World War I Era. Laughlin, a contemporary of Davenport, was an ardent negative eugenics advocate. Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck.
Most of these policies were later regretted as overly coercive or restrictive, and now few jurisdictions implement policies that are explicitly or substantially eugenic. Some common early 2. Roma and Jews in Nazi Germany) as . The Nazi practice of euthanasia was carried out on hospital patients in the Aktion T4 centers such as Hartheim Castle. By the end of World War II, many discriminatory eugenics laws were largely abandoned, having become associated with Nazi Germany.
During the ten years President Alberto Fujimori led Peru from 1. Some, such as UC Berkeley sociologist Troy Duster, claim that modern genetics is a back door to eugenics. He believes that it is not physically different from breeding domestic animals for traits such as speed or herding skill. Dawkins felt that enough time had elapsed to at least ask just what the ethical differences were between breeding for ability versus training athletes or forcing children to take music lessons, though he could think of persuasive reasons to draw the distinction.
Comfort from Johns Hopkins University, claim that the change from state- led reproductive- genetic decision- making to individual choice has moderated the worst abuses of eugenics by transferring the decision- making from the state to the patient and their family. In a co- authored publication by Keele University, they stated that . The word eugenics is derived from the Greek word eu (. This aspect of eugenics has historically been tainted with scientific racism. Early eugenists were mostly concerned with perceived intelligence factors that often correlated strongly with social class.
The American Eugenics Society promoted ideas of racial betterment and genetic education through. NPR Overview; NPR Finances; People at NPR.
Much of the spiritual guidance and political agitation for the American eugenics movement came from. Eugenic Sterilization Laws.
Some of these early eugenists include Karl Pearson and Walter Weldon, who worked on this at the University College London. He basically placed the two words as equivalents. He was supported in part by the fact that Francis Galton, the father of eugenics, also had medical training. Positive eugenics is aimed at encouraging reproduction among the genetically advantaged; for example, the reproduction of the intelligent, the healthy, and the successful. Possible approaches include financial and political stimuli, targeted demographic analyses, in vitro fertilization, egg transplants, and cloning. Negative eugenics aimed to eliminate, through sterilization or segregation, those deemed physically, mentally, or morally . This includes abortions, sterilization, and other methods of family planning.
Morgan claimed that this demonstrated that major genetic changes occurred outside of inheritance and that the concept of eugenics based upon genetic inheritance was not completely scientifically accurate. Additionally, Morgan criticized the view that subjective traits, such as intelligence and criminality, were caused by heredity because he believed that the definitions of these traits varied and that accurate work in genetics could only be done when the traits being studied were accurately defined. This includes programs in England, Germany, and America targeting various groups, including Jews, homosexuals, Muslims, Romani, the homeless, and those with intellectual disabilities. Advances in science have changed eugenics.
In the past, eugenics has had more to do with sterilization and enforced reproduction laws (i. Sterilized individuals, for example, could volunteer for the procedure, albeit under incentive or duress, or at least voice their opinion.
The unborn fetus on which these new eugenic procedures are performed cannot speak out, as the fetus lacks the voice to consent or to express his or her opinion. Laws controlling the subjects, the methods, and the extent of eugenics will need to be considered in order to prevent the repetition of the unethical events of the past.
Losing genetic diversity by classifying traits as diseases. A long- term species- wide eugenics plan might lead to a scenario similar to this because the elimination of traits deemed undesirable would reduce genetic diversity by definition. Miller claims that, in any one generation, any realistic program should make only minor changes in a fraction of the gene pool, giving plenty of time to reverse direction if unintended consequences emerge, reducing the likelihood of the elimination of desirable genes. Some diseases such as sickle- cell disease and cystic fibrosis respectively confer immunity to malaria and resistance to cholera when a single copy of the recessive allele is contained within the genotype of the individual. Reducing the instance of sickle- cell disease genes in Africa where malaria is a common and deadly disease could indeed have extremely negative net consequences. However, some genetic diseases such as haemochromatosis can increase susceptibility to illness, cause physical deformities, and other dysfunctions, which provides some incentive for people to re- consider some elements of eugenics. Autistic people have advocated a shift in perception of autism spectrum disorders as complex syndromes rather than diseases that must be cured.
Proponents of this view reject the notion that there is an . As only very few undesirable traits, such as Huntington's disease, are dominant, it could be argued. The elevated prevalence of certain genetically transmitted diseases among the Ashkenazi Jewish population (Tay. Pekalski uses the example of a coercive government eugenics program that prohibits people with myopia from breeding but has the unintended consequence of also selecting against high intelligence since the two go together. See. In 1. 90. 9 the Anglican clergymen William Inge and James Peile both wrote for the British Eugenics Education Society.
Inge was an invited speaker at the 1. International Eugenics Conference, which was also endorsed by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York Patrick Joseph Hayes. Chesterton, the German- American anthropologist Franz Boas. Sutherland identified eugenists as a major obstacle to the eradication and cure of tuberculosis in his 1. Several biologists were also antagonistic to the eugenics movement, including Lancelot Hogben.
Fisher expressed skepticism that sterilization of . Wells, who had called for ?
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Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's. The Eugenics Archive utilizes Flash for enhanced search features, cross referencing, and interactive images created with. Zoomifyer. Get the Flash plugin at Adobe. The Eugenics Archive will open in a new window. I prefer the original, HTML- only Eugenics Archive site, take me there.
Sterilization Laws. Based on a task force recommendation, the North Carolina legislature is considering paying $5. North Carolina reportedly sterilized 7,6. However, other American states also passed laws legalizing sterilization; the first was passed in Indiana in 1. Meet four individuals who became objects of the eugenic movement's zeal to cleanse society of .
Then meet a modern- day heroine for an account of mental illness and the lesson it holds for living in the gene age..