Heterozygous recessive traits
In some instances efforts to eradicate certain
single-gene mutations would be nearly
impossible. In the event the condition in
question was a heterozygous recessive trait,
the problem is that by eliminating the visible
unwanted trait, there still may be many
carriers for the genes without, or with fewer,
phenotypic effects due to that gene. With
genetic testing it may be possible to detect all
of the heterozygous recessive traits. Under
normal circumstances it is only possible to
eliminate a dominant allele from the gene
pool. Recessive traits can be severely
reduced, but never eliminated unless the
complete genetic makeup of all members of
the pool was known, as aforementioned. As
only very few undesirable traits, such as
Huntington's disease, are dominant, one, from
certain perspectives, may argue that the
practicality of "eliminating" traits is quite
low. [ citation needed]
There are examples of eugenic acts that
managed to lower the prevalence of recessive
diseases, although not influencing the
prevalence of heterozygote carriers of those
diseases. The elevated prevalence of certain
genetically transmitted diseases among the
Ashkenazi Jewish population ( Tay–Sachs ,
cystic fibrosis , Canavan's disease, and
Gaucher's disease), has been decreased in
current populations by the application of
genetic screening.[114]
Supporters and critics
Chesterton in 1905 by photographer
Alvin Langdon Coburn
At its peak of popularity, eugenics was
supported by a wide variety of prominent
people, including Winston Churchill, [115]
Margaret Sanger, [116][117] Marie Stopes , H.
G. Wells , [118] Norman Haire, Havelock Ellis ,
Theodore Roosevelt , Herbert Hoover, George
Bernard Shaw , John Maynard Keynes , John
Harvey Kellogg, Robert Andrews Millikan , [119]
Linus Pauling[120] and Sidney Webb . [121]
[122][123] Its most infamous proponent and
practitioner was, however, Adolf Hitler, who
praised and incorporated eugenic ideas in
Mein Kampf and emulated Eugenic legislation
for the sterilization of "defectives" that had
been pioneered in the United States. [124]
The American sociologist Lester Frank Ward,
[125] the English writer G. K. Chesterton , the
German-American anthropologist Franz Boas,
[126] and Scottish tuberculosis pioneer and
author Dr Halliday Sutherland were all early
critics of the philosophy of eugenics. Ward's
1913 article "Eugenics, Euthenics, and
Eudemics ", Chesterton's 1917 book Eugenics
and Other Evils and Boas' 1916 article
"Eugenics" (in Scientific Monthly magazine)
were all harshly critical of the rapidly growing
movement. [127] Dr Halliday Sutherland
identified eugenists as a major obstacle to the
eradication and cure of tuberculosis in his
1917 address "Consumption: Its Cause and
Cure", [128] and criticism of eugenists and
Neo-Malthusians in his 1921 book "Birth
Control" led to a writ for libel from the
eugenist, Marie Stopes . Several biologists
were also antagonistic to the eugenics
movement, including Lancelot Hogben. [129]
Other biologists, including J. B. S. Haldane
and R. A. Fisher expressed skepticism that
sterilization of "defectives" would lead to the
disappearance of undesirable genetic traits.
[130]
Some former supporters of eugenics recanted;
H. G. Wells, who had called for "the
sterilization of failures" in 1904, [118] stated in
his 1940 book The Rights of Man: Or What are
we fighting for? that among the human rights
he believed should be available to all people
was " a prohibition on mutilation, sterilization,
torture, and any bodily punishment". [131]
Among institutions, the Catholic Church was
an early opponent of state-enforced eugenics.
[132] In his 1930 encyclical Casti Connubii,
Pope Pius XI explicitly condemned eugenics
laws: "Public magistrates have no direct
power over the bodies of their subjects;
therefore, where no crime has taken place
and there is no cause present for grave
punishment, they can never directly harm, or
tamper with the integrity of the body, either for
the reasons of eugenics or for any other
reason." [133]
Geoffrey Miller claims that 21st century
Chinese eugenics may allow the Chinese to
increase the IQ of each subsequent
generation by five to fifteen IQ points, and
after a couple generations it "would be game
over for Western global competitiveness."
Miller recommends that we put aside our
"self-righteous" Euro-American ideological
biases and learn from the Chinese. [134]
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