Eugenic Implications Research Articles

Cold-War Cabin Ecologies: Soviet-American Biospheric Thinking

This article draws a connection between closed-biosphere tropes in Kim Stanley Robinson's Icehenge (1984) and Soviet and American research on closed artificial ecologies. The article contends that during the 1980s, bioregenerative food systems—as research objects and literary tropes—expressed a perception of socialism and capitalism as imperfect yet eternal states. Two challenges are analogized: 1) conceiving political alternatives at the twentieth century's end, and 2) sustaining livable habitats using a closed ecology's limited available resources (for example, by deriving nutrients from waste). Both challenges inspire a mode of aggressive re-use here termed "strategic recycling." To close, the article assesses the ambivalent politics attending biospheric thinking: closed biospheres clarify humans' metabolic enmeshment in their environments, inviting the radical reassessment of organism-environment relations as ratios of useful outputs over required inputs (what one emits over what one eats). The resulting perspective carries both utopian and eugenic implications that make biospheric thinking itself a "recyclable" material that can be conscripted with equal ease into emancipatory and reactionary projects.

The place of Franz Kallmann's 1938 "the genetics of schizophrenia" in the history of psychiatric genetics.

This essay provides the historical context and key findings of one of the largest fieldwork-based family studies ever done in the history of psychiatric genetics conducted in Berlin by Franz Kallmann from 1929 to 1933. It included over 1,000 schizophrenic probands and 12,500 of their relatives including siblings, offspring, nieces/nephews and grandchildren. The work was analyzed in close collaboration with Rüdin, Schulz, and Luxenburger in Munich. Born of Jewish parents, Kallmann had to leave Germany in 1936, completing and publishing the monograph in the United States in 1938. This study included a number of methodologic advances over the classic 1916 sibling study of Rüdin: (a) joint analysis of multiple classes of relatives; (b) subdivision of schizophrenia into four subtypes; (c) a focus on schizoid personality [schizoidia]; (d) examination of the familial aggregation of schizophrenia; and (e) a more complex genetic model-with schizophrenia arising from a single-recessive gene with 70% penetrance and background polygenic influences, and schizoidia from heterozygotes. Kallmann found important differences in risk of relatives in nuclear versus peripheral subtypes and concluded that schizoidia was a part of schizophrenia disease complex while other psychopathies, feeblemindedness, and organic brain disorders were not. Kallmann was strongly invested in the eugenic implications of his results.

Spectatorship and Entanglement in Thoreau, Hawthorne, Morris, and Wells

ABSTRACT This article traces the metaphor of entanglement as it appears in the writings of four nineteenth-century authors who were differently involved with the utopian tradition. The connotations of entanglement range from the sexual and political, encompassing the difficulty of reconciling the competing demands of autonomy and solidarity, to the evolutionary and eugenic. William Morris's comments on Henry David Thoreau's Walden (1854) offer the basis for a comparison of the divergent utopian strategies articulated by Morris and Thoreau, setting up the opposition between spectatorship and entanglement. The sexual connotations of entanglement are on display in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance (1852), which, when observed, illuminate the existence of a similar problematic, albeit differently resolved, in Morris's News from Nowhere (1890), recalling Morris's response to Thoreau. Thoreau's utopian strategy of individual withdrawal and secession is at odds with Morris's assertion of the political value of collective social transformation through the agency of social revolution. Thoreauvian traces, however, are clearly detectable in the practice of the Samurai in H. G. Wells's A Modern Utopia (1905), in which the metaphor of entanglement has unmistakably eugenic implications, prompting reassessment of the connection between Morris and Wells, particularly in relation to their differing class politics.

An outpost of socialism in the Buddhist Orient: geopolitical and eugenic implications of medical and anthropological research on Buryat-Mongols in the 1920s

Cet article dévoile les contextes géopolitiques et eugéniques de la recherche médicale et anthropologique sur les Bouriates, dont l’état de santé s’est détérioré au point de devenir un sujet de grave préoccupation au début des années 1920, lorsque l’autonomie nationale bouriate fut créée au sein de la RSFSR.

Biological Pre‐emption: “Race”, Class, and Genomics

AbstractGenomics is a complex field of study involving researchers and practitioners immersed in the social milieu from which their genetic theories and comprehensions in part emerge. Genomic researchers' embeddedness in social formations with distinct ideologies predisposes them to construct hypotheses about genetics with value‐laden assumptions. Given genomics' inseparability from social influences this article explores how its use with marginalized groups has eugenic implications. Several important links between eugenics and genomics are identified suggesting eugenic implications in genomics.

“Is This Something You Want?”: Genetic Counselors’ Accounts of Their Role in Prenatal Decision Making

With the widespread availability of prenatal genetic diagnosis, bioethical concerns have emerged about why women make use of these technologies, and the potential eugenic implications. Research on women's experience with genetic screening often suggests that genetic counselors encourage women to undergo prenatal testing and to terminate pregnancies with abnormalities. Yet, this key professional remains relatively understudied. To fill this lacuna, this article examines genetic counselors’ accounts of their role in the decision‐making process, drawing on 26 qualitative interviews with master's‐trained genetic counselors and illustrative observations of a prenatal counselor. In the context of debates about reproductive politics and genomic medicine, I identify the ways in which genetic counselors view their work and position themselves. I find that contrary to assumptions, genetic counselors provide accounts of being just as likely to discourage as to encourage invasive testing, and persuade against instead of promote termination of affected pregnancies. These findings suggest that genetic counselors may play a more nuanced and less coercive role than their critics contend, challenge assumptions about genetic counselors’ roles in prenatal genetic testing uptake and abortion, and shed light on how this specific professional may curb rather than promote eugenic tendencies feared with the normalization of prenatal screening.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Buck V. Bell

This article is a review essay of Paul Lombardo's THREE GENERATIONS, NO IMBECILES: EUGENICS, THE SUPREME COURT AND BUCK V. BELL [Johns Hopkins Press, 2008]. Using Lombardo's rich and fascinating history of eugenics in the U.S. as a foundation, I propose and then explore a series of implications that stem from Buck v. Bell and are related to eugenic practices in the U.S. in the 1920s and 30s. The themes upon which Lombardo touches may be grouped into three general categories: the state role in regulating fertility; gender, race, and class issues in fertility regulation; and contemporary reproduction-related politics as they pertain to human attributes. The article is written with an eye to a semester-long study of the governmental regulation of reproduction, past, present and future. Among the themes that fall within the first of these three broad categories are issues of fiduciary duty, which grow out of Lombardo's examination of the roles of doctors and lawyers in the Buck case. I also consider the government's role in regulating population more generally, examining the eugenic implications of contemporary immigration and population policies. The themes relating to gender, race and class include the consideration of maternal-doctor-fetal conflicts, as well as historical and contemporary efforts to link fertility control to criminal punishment. Finally, the third set of themes includes a discussion of the eugenic implications of contemporary issues in reproductive technology. Lombardo's book is well researched and fascinating. It deserves a broad readership, and this review provides a mechanism for bringing this rich history to life in the classroom and beyond.

Death by Mangle: Domestic Technology and Eugenics in Samuel Butler's Erewhon

This short paper discusses a curious detail in the 'Book of the Machines' episode of Samuel Butler's novel Erewhon (1872), namely, that of the destruction of domestic mangles. After considering other contemporary novels and periodical articles, it concludes that the the exclusion of mangles from Erewhon has eugenic implications.

‘Have you had the test?’ A discourse analysis of media presentation of prenatal screening in Iceland

Nuchal translucency (NT) screening has come to be widely used in antenatal care in many countries. In the capital area of Iceland, which is the focus of this study, 84% of pregnant women underwent screening in 2005. At the time no official policy had been formulated regarding the use of this screening, and very limited public discussion had taken place on the ethical issues related to its use. Although screening has been widely welcomed as a scientific and technological improvement, it may also have unintended consequences, both for practitioners and prospective parents, and for particular groups such as the disabled, which have not been fully explored. The purpose of this study was to examine how NT screening was introduced as a new practice and came to be adopted in prenatal care in Iceland. Using a genealogical approach, we explored the way in which the value and potential drawbacks of NT screening were presented to the public. The data used in the analysis comprised material published from the beginning of 2000 until the end of 2005, such as television programmes, newspaper and magazine articles and booklets written for prospective parents. The findings reveal that the screening was mainly promoted by staff at the specialized clinic where the test was offered, and that soon after its initiation screening became widespread. In interviews, both practitioners and parents of children with Down's syndrome questioned the eugenic implications of screening and its impact on the lives of the disabled and their relatives. However, the societal response was fairly muted and a critical debate regarding the routine use of NT screening can hardly be said to have taken place. These findings alert us to the importance of promoting critical discussion of new knowledge and technology in health care, particularly when serious ethical issues are involved.

The Plot against Cancer: Heredity and Cancer in German and Dutch Medicine, 1933–1945

In the Third Reich hereditarian approaches and their eugenic implications seemed to offer possibilities for fundamental progress in the fight against cancer. This did not lead to an exclusive emphasis on genetics in theory or practice. The concept of a hereditary predisposition for cancer, the Krebs-disposition or Krebsbereitschaft, led to flexible multifactor approaches, including proposals for both eugenic and social-hygienic measures. These approaches were not typical of German medicine alone. In the Netherlands hereditarian approaches did not play a central role in the 1930s. They lacked institutional support in a country where health policies were characterised by indirect strategies working through intermediaries such as general practitioners and home nursing organisations. However, potentially the elements for similar anti-cancer policies as in Germany were present. The German occupation offered opportunities to develop these elements (concepts, institutions, personnel). This development was blocked because of the political radicalisation during the war and the German defeat.

Public health and the challenge of genomics

This paper is a contribution to debate on the challenge to public health of advances in genomic science and its applications. While genomics offers exciting possibilities for mitigating and preventing disease and disability, it is outpacing society's comprehension as well as public health policy and practice. There is controversy in Australia and internationally over the eugenic implications of genomics, with desirable outcomes for pubic health set against ‘slippery slope’ arguments. Controversy cannot be avoided; we risk divisiveness if it is not carefully managed with informed, social‐consensus‐building debate. Furthermore, the intrinsic tension between genomics (with its individual and family choices) and pubic health (operating for the pubic good) may even necessitate a reconceptualisation of public health.

Sex (IST) Selection?

Sex selection has been practised since the start of time, but developments in science and in reproductive technologies in recent years have made sex selection reliable and more accessible to parents. Although concerns are raised about the activities involved in different methods of sex selection, and about the eugenic implications of its use to avoid the birth of a child suffering from a sex-linked disease, particular concerns are raised about its use to secure the birth of a child simply on the basis of its sex. This article considers the practice of so-called social sex selection, and its regulation in the United Kingdom. Consistent with the conclusions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in their recent review of the subject, this article concludes that restrictive regulation is required, and suggests that some reforms are required to achieve this result.

Resetting our Educational Sights: Unconstructing the Public's Dreams and Nightmares of the Genetic Revolution

Resetting our Educational Sights: Unconstructing the Public's Dreams and Nightmares of the Genetic Revolution

The human genome project Some Social and Eugenic Implications

Galton defined eugenics as the science of improvement of the human race germ plasm through better breeding and claimed that the study of agencies under social control which may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations should be pursued. Eugenic theoretical approaches and eugenic state political policies are deliberate intentions of adopting eugenic measures, whether or not they have been actually implemented and no matter how successful the results of those practices might have been. They involve agents and goals to be achieved. Some eugenists intended that eugenic programmes should be enforced by state agencies; others defended that those programmes might be implemented on a voluntary choice. The eugenic consequences of practices that were not deliberately designed to have eugenic goals are also considered. This latter category is very often relevant while discussing eugenics as related to a number of new biotechnologies. The concern with eugenics today does not focus so much on the risks of population improvement programmes to be implemented by central powers; nevertheless, practices adopted by health institutions, insurance and legal agencies may lead to eugenic consequences. The social and eugenic implications of the Human Genome Project are discussed.

New Chinese law on maternal and infant health has eugenic implications

New Chinese law on maternal and infant health has eugenic implications

Reproductive genetic testing and eugenics.

The situation concerning reproductive genetic testing in Switzerland is briefly described. Growing awareness of eugenic implications especially by women is reported. This is also true for all the other German-speaking countries in Europe to a higher extent than in the other European countries. Better professional education and public information are required.

Teaching medical ethics to medical students and GP trainees.

This paper relates two experiences of teaching medical ethics, the first to a small group of clinical medical students, the second to a larger group of GP trainees.

Prenatal Diagnosis of Down's Syndrome

There are now sufficient data on the safety and accuracy of prenatal diagnosis of Down's syndrome to state that the procedure is no longer experimental and can be considered standard care for women in specified risk groups. 1 A court in New York state recently concluded that a physician may be considered negligent for not advising a 37-year-old pregnant woman of these facts. 2 These realities will undoubtedly stimulate a rapid increase in demand for the procedure, especially since use of such services is now less than 5% among women who are at clearly increased risk. 1 There will continue to be disagreement about some of the ethical issues at stake, particularly regarding abortion and the eugenic implications of labeling a genetically distinct group of persons as inferior. While consensus on these matters cannot be expected in the foreseeable future, there are other ethical and social issues about which most

Black Intelligence-A Re-Evaluation

During the past decade there has been a wealth of research literature dealing with the cognitive functioning of children. While many studies offer descriptive documentation that students as a group score 12-15 I.Q. points below their white peers (Jensen, 1969a; Jensen, 1973; Dreger and Miller, 1960; Kaufman, 1972), an even larger amount of the literature is concerned with why such differences are obtained. The controversy over the relative contributions of heredity versus environmental factors rages,2 with additional fuel for the fire provided by individual researchers' discussions of test biases, inappropriate methodologies of previous studies, differences in economics and early childhood conditions, as well as educational, societal, and eugenic implications of such reported I.Q. differences.3 Underlying most of these discussions is the fundamental assumption that Blacks perform dramatically different from whites on tests of intelligence. This assumption about the black I.Q. deficit is so extensive that it pervades the thinking of most class-

Eugenic implications of the new reproductive technologies.

Eugenic implications of the new reproductive technologies.