Eugenics has, from the very beginning, meant
many different things. [ citation needed]
Historically, the term has referred to
everything from prenatal care for mothers to
forced sterilization and
euthanasia . [ citation needed ] To population
geneticists , the term has included the
avoidance of inbreeding without altering allele
frequencies ; for example, J. B. S. Haldane
wrote that "the motor bus, by breaking up
inbred village communities, was a powerful
eugenic agent". [52] Debate as to what exactly
counts as eugenics has continued to the
present day. [53] Some types of eugenics deal
only with perceived beneficial or detrimental
genetic traits. These types have sometimes
been called "pseudo-eugenics" by proponents
of strict eugenics. [ citation needed ][ who? ]
The term eugenics is often used to refer to
movements and social policies influential
during the early 20th century. [ citation needed]
In a historical and broader sense, eugenics
can also be a study of "improving human
genetic qualities." It is sometimes broadly
applied to describe any human action whose
goal is to improve the gene
pool . [ citation needed] Some forms of
infanticide in ancient societies, present-day
reprogenetics , preemptive abortions and
designer babies have been (sometimes
controversially) referred to as
eugenic. [ by whom?] Because of its normative
goals and historical association with scientific
racism , as well as the development of the
science of genetics , the western scientific
community [ according to whom?] has mostly
disassociated itself from the term "eugenics",
although one can find advocates of what is
now known as liberal
eugenics .[ citation needed ] Despite its ongoing
criticism [ by whom?] in the United States,
several regions [ according to whom? ] globally
practice different forms of eugenics.
Edwin Black, journalist and author of War
Against the Weak , claims eugenics is often
deemed a pseudoscience because what is
defined as a genetic improvement or a
desired trait is often a cultural choice rather
than a matter that can be determined through
objective scientific inquiry. [54] The most
disputed aspect of eugenics has been the
definition of "improvement" of the human
gene pool, such as what is a beneficial
characteristic and what is a defect. 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 . Some of
these early eugenists include Karl Pearson
and Walter Weldon, who worked on this at the
University College, London.[10] Many
eugenists took inspiration from the selective
breeding of animals (where purebreds are
often striven for) as their analogy for improving
human society. The mixing of races (or
miscegenation) was usually considered as
something to be avoided in the name of racial
purity. At the time this concept appeared to
have some scientific support [ by whom? ] , and
it remained a contentious issue until the
advanced development of genetics led to a
scientific consensus that the division of the
human species into unequal races is
unjustifiable. [ citation needed ]
Eugenics also had a place in medicine. In his
lecture "Darwinism, Medical Progress and
Eugenics", Karl Pearson said that everything
concerning eugenics fell into the field of
medicine. 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. [55]
Eugenics has also been concerned with the
elimination of hereditary diseases such as
hemophilia and Huntington's disease.
However, there are several problems with
labeling certain factors as genetic defects. In
many cases there is no scientific consensus
on what constitutes a genetic
defect. [ citation needed ] It is often
argued [ by whom? ] that this is more a matter
of social or individual choice. What appears
to be a genetic defect in one context or
environment may not be so in another. This
can be the case for genes with a heterozygote
advantage , such as sickle-cell disease or Tay-
Sachs disease, which in their heterozygote
form may offer an advantage against,
respectively, malaria and tuberculosis.
Although some birth defects are uniformly
lethal, disabled persons can succeed in
life. [ citation needed ] Many of the conditions
early eugenists identified as inheritable
( pellagra is one such example) are currently
considered to be at least partially, if not
wholly, attributed to environmental
conditions. [ citation needed ] Similar concerns
have been raised[ by whom?] when a prenatal
diagnosis of a congenital disorder leads to
abortion (see also preimplantation genetic
diagnosis ).
Eugenic policies have been conceptually
divided into two categories. Positive eugenics
is aimed at encouraging reproduction among
the genetically advantaged,for example the
reproduction of the intelligent, the healthy,
and the successful.[56] Possible approaches
include financial and political stimuli, targeted
demographic analyses, in vitro fertilization,
egg transplants, and cloning. [57] Negative
eugenics aimed to eliminate, through
sterilization or segregation, those deemed
physically, mentally, or morally "undesirable".
[56] This includes abortions, sterilization, and
other methods of family planning. [57] Both
positive and negative eugenics can be
coercive. Abortion for fit women was illegal in
Nazi Germany. [58]
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