Eugenics << yoo JEHN ihks >> is a method meant to improve the human population through the selection of people to bear children based on their desirable inherited characteristics. Most experts today consider eugenics to be pseudoscience. A pseudoscience attempts to appear as if it is following scientific principles, but does not actually do so. Eugenics principles have been mostly replaced by modern genetic science.
Eugenics aimed to improve the human condition and to decrease the frequency of inherited diseases, disabilities, and undesirable traits. Advocates of eugenics have proposed that future generations could be improved by encouraging people who are above average mentally and physically to have more children. This method has been called positive eugenics. Historically, eugenics advocates have also proposed that people who are below average mentally or physically have fewer children. This method has been called negative eugenics.
History
The British scientist Sir Francis Galton coined the term eugenics in 1883. He observed that certain characteristics tended to run in families. Galton urged the managed improvement of the human race through selective breeding of “superior” parents. Early proponents of eugenics believed that many physical traits and behaviors were hereditary—that is, they could be passed on from one generation to the next. Such behaviors included moral development, living in poverty, and the tendency to commit crime. Eugenics advocates warned against the marriage of two people whose family histories included undesirable characteristics, because some of the couple’s children may inherit these tendencies. However, the mechanisms of inheritance were poorly understood. Galton’s ideas were not widely accepted in the United Kingdom.
Eugenics was more widely promoted in the United States. In 1910, the biologist Henry Davenport established the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. The ERO aimed to collect family pedigrees from those possessing desirable physical, mental, and moral characteristics to promote positive eugenics. Many other scientists involved in the development of modern genetics thought eugenics could improve the human condition.
Negative eugenics methods were also employed in the United States. In 1896, Connecticut became one of several states to pass laws that prohibited marriage among those determined to be “feeble-minded.” From 1907, several states made it legal to sterilize patients in mental hospitals and others deemed to have certain inherited defects. The activist Margaret Sanger promoted birth control in part as a means to prevent the breeding of individuals determined to be unfit. In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that forced sterilization of the disabled was allowed under the Constitution. Thousands of people diagnosed with mental disorders were sterilized, often without their knowledge or consent.
Germany under Nazi rule in the 1930’s passed several laws based on eugenic concepts (see Nuremberg Laws). The Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler wrote that Germans were racially superior. Therefore, he claimed, they must conquer and displace the “lesser” races of Europe. The Nazis enacted a program to sterilize and murder those they regarded as mentally or physically unfit. Nazi policies contributed to the start of World War II (1939-1945) and the systematic murder of millions of Jews and other Europeans during the Holocaust. The atrocities committed by the Nazis caused most countries to abandon eugenic policies.
Modern genetics
has replaced most historical practices of eugenics. Geneticists investigate the structure, function, and transmission of specific genes. Genes are the basic units of heredity in all living things, including humans. Scientists use data from the Human Genome Project and other sources to determine the role of various genes in normal body processes and disease.
The importance of genes in determining particular characteristics varies. Many physical characteristics are understood to be the result of environmental conditions as well as inherited genes. Today, people may seek genetic counseling if they know or suspect that genes play a significant role in a condition that affects them or a family member. Genetic counselors aim to provide clients with information and tools to make their own informed decisions regarding reproduction.
Advances in genetic engineering (techniques for altering the structure of genes) have many uses and potential uses in medicine. Several human disorders are caused by the failure of certain genes in the body, which may be corrected through genetic engineering techniques. Such techniques are used in gene therapy, whereby new genes may be placed into a patient’s cells to treat, cure, or prevent certain inherited conditions.
