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PubMed2001

Sir Francis Galton and the birth of eugenics.

The eugenics movement was initiated by Sir Francis Galton, a Victorian scientist. Galton's career can be divided into two parts. During the first, Galton was engaged in African exploration, travel writing, geography, and meteorology. The second part began after he read the Origin of Species by his cousin Charles Darwin. The book convinced Galton that humanity could be improved through selective breeding. During this part of his career he was interested in the factors that determine what he called human "talent and character" and its hereditary basis. Consequently, he delved into anthropometrics and psychology and played a major role in the development of fingerprinting. He also founded the field of biometrics, inventing such familiar statistical procedures as correlation and regression analysis. He constructed his own theory of inheritance in which nature and not nurture played the leading role. He actively began to promote eugenics and soon gained important converts.

Eugenics↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Some ethical issues at the population level raised by 'soft' eugenics, euphenics, and isogenics.

It is argued that at the population level there are three central genetic developments raising ethical issues. The first is the emergence of 'soft' eugenics, due primarily to the increasing ability to detect carriers of genetic diseases, to monitor their pregnancies, and to provide the option to abort a fetus predisposed to major genetic disease. The second development is the recognition of the extent to which many serious diseases of adult life are due to a disturbance of ancient genetic homeostatic mechanisms due to changing life style, raising the question of whether a society that increasingly pays the medical bills should attempt to impose healthier standards of living on its members. Such an attempt at 'euphenics' may be thought of as the antithesis to eugenics. The third development relates to recognition of the need to regulate the size of the earth's population to numbers that can be indefinitely sustained; this regulation in a fashion (isogenic) that will preserve existing genetic diversity.

Bioethics↗
PubMed1991

The history of eugenics and the future of gene therapy.

In this commentary, I shall provide an overview of some recent histories of eugenics and suggest some lessons that this history may have for today. This commentary is not an argument against gene therapy. Rather, it is a plea for historical understanding of what has been done,..."in the name of eugenics."... There is a temptation to parody misgivings about gene therapy. I suggest that there are justified reasons to think about the social consequences of gene therapy. I do not hold that we ought to stop the program now, but I do believe that scientists, physicians, and the public ought to be aware of the slippery slope on which we as a society -- and we are all members of society -- have embarked.

Persons with Disabilities↗
PubMed2003

["Baur-Fischer-Lenz" in 1921-1940 critical book reviews: a quantitative study of contemporary reception of racial eugenics theories].

In 1921 the distinguished scientists Erwin Baur, Eugen Fischer and Fritz Lenz published the book "Menschliche Erblichkeitslehre und Rassenhygiene" in two volumes. Until 1941 their work went through 5 editions and became the standard textbook on human heredity and racial hygiene (eugenics) in Germany. Between 1921 and 1941 Baur's, Fischer's and Lenz's book was reviewed in many German and foreign scientific and popular journals. 325 of these reviews have been systematically analysed. They paint a representative picture of the book's contemporary reception. The analysis of the reviews helps to quantify the acceptance of the book among the German scientific community and shows how the reviewers created the image of the book as a standard work. Furthermore, the analysis elucidates the style of thinking that was prevalent among the reviewers.

Ethnicity↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Medical eugenics: a current issue].

The author begins by examining the historical background of eugenics and then ourlines with examples how it has evolved today (gamete donation, embryo selection, etc.). He concludes by discussing possible requirements to prevent the potential misuses of eugenic medicine which might result from recent advances in science and technology.

Eugenics↗
PubMed2005

Screening for mental illness: the merger of eugenics and the drug industry.

The implementation of a recommendation by the President's New Freedom Commission (NFC) to screen the entire United States population--children first--for presumed, undetected, mental illness is an ill-conceived policy destined for disastrous consequences. The "pseudoscientific" methods used to screen for mental and behavioral abnormalities are a legacy from the discredited ideology of eugenics. Both eugenics and psychiatry suffer from a common philosophical fallacy that undermines the validity of their theories and prescriptions. Both are wed to a faith-based ideological assumption that mental and behavioral manifestations are biologically determined, and are, therefore, ameliorated by biological interventions. NFC promoted the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a "model" medication treatment plan. The impact of TMAP is evident in the skyrocketing increase in psychotropic drug prescriptions for children and adults, and in the disproportionate expenditure for psychotropic drugs. The New Freedom Commission's screening for mental illness initiative is, therefore, but the first step toward prescribing drugs. The escalating expenditure for psychotropic drugs since TMAP leaves little doubt about who the beneficiaries of TMAP are. Screening for mental illness will increase their use.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

[Three historical examples of eugenics before Galton (1883): Plato, Soranus and Vandermonde (part 1)].

There is a pre-history of Eugenics as well as a history. Although the concept was introduced by Galton in 1883, there were, before this, numerous texts, both philosophical and medical, which put forward theories aimed at standardising or improving man. From Ancient Greek times to the Enlightenment of the 18th Century, many authors have wished to influence human reproduction, to improve results. Plato in Athens, Soranus of Ephesus in Rome and Charles-Augustin Vandermonde in Paris are three examples from this pre-history of Eugenics. This article is published in two parts, with the second in the next edition of the journal.

Eugenics↗
PubMed2006

[Three historical examples of eugenics before Galton (1883): Plato, Soranus and Vandermonde (part II)].

The first part of this paper explored the origins of the idea of Eugenics in Plato's work in the 4th Century BC. This second part looks at the development of the concept, notably in the writings of Soranus of Ephesus in Rome in the 1st century AD and Charles-Augustin Vandermonde, a French doctor of the 18th Century, before it was described and named by Francis Galton in 1883. We will be reminded that these three separate glimpses into the prehistory of Eugenics do not demonstrate a logically linked continuum, but do show a long-standing preoccupation with controlling life.

Eugenics↗
PubMed1987

Eugenics: new tools, old ideas.

Prejudices against people who have noticeable disabilities have resulted in needless social and economic barriers to their participation in society. In Germany under the Nazis, a movement for eugenics, or "racial hygiene," led to the sterilization and, later, the elimination of people with particular mental or physical disabilities. In the United States, earlier in the century, the eugenics movement produced compulsory sterilization laws. At present, physicians and scientists are developing techniques for prenatal diagnosis of increasing numbers of inherited diseases and disabilities, although more babies and children are needlessly disabled because of poverty and accidents than for genetic reasons. Such prenatal tests are being hailed as progress, yet their availability is once again turning pregnancy into a medical event and confronts women with decisions and choices that can be extremely difficult.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1979

Eugenic sterilization: medico-legal and sociological aspects.

The court-ordered sterilization of a normal 18-year-old black female in North Carolina focused attention on the unfortunate impact of eugenic statutes that allow sterilization as a method of social control. The existence of these laws in many states allows misapplication and abuse of authority which, not infrequently, is directed liberally to blacks and other minority groups.Eugenic sterilization is, at this time, a legally accepted form of "medical treatment." The justification of such sterilization is the vague concept that the presumed "mentally deficient" individual is probably a potential parent of socially inadequate offspring who would likewise be socially inadequate.Since there never has been factual substantiation of whether the sterilization of these individuals will diminish the incidence of mental retardation, it is necessary to focus attention on the concept of eugenic sterilization and point out its many fallacies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

[Eugenics and public health: legal sterilization of mentally ill in the Vaud canton (Switzerland)].

In 1928 the canton of Vaud (Switzerland) voted a bill which legalized eugenics sterilization. The sterilization of the mentally ill was a public-health measure among others. It fitted in a wide variety of policies whose aims were to increase the physical and psychical well-being of the population. Vaud eugenics was progressive, reformist and non-partisan. This paper examines the intellectual, social and political conditions of the 1928 bill.

Eugenics↗
PubMed1994

The Human Genome Project and eugenic concerns.

The U.S. Human Genome project is the largest scientific project funded by the federal government since the Apollo Moon Project. The overall effect from this project should be of great benefit to humankind because it will provide a better understanding both of single gene defects and multifactorial or familial diseases such as diabetes, arteriosclerosis, and cancer. At first this will lead to more exact ways of screening and diagnosing genetic disease, and later it will lead, in many if not most instances, to specific genetic cures. However, in the past, in both the U.S. and German eugenic movements genetic information has been misused. Hopefully, by remembering and understanding the past injustices and inhumanity of negative eugenics, further misuse of scientific information can be avoided.

Ethical Theory↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Eugen Bleuler and forensic psychiatry.

The list of Eugen Bleuler's writings shows that he grappled with forensic issues quite early, even before he became a full professor in 1898. Bleuler regularly prepared forensic criminal expert's reports himself until emeritus status was conferred on him in 1927. Analysis of his writings indicates that his position remained explicitly deterministic. In Bleuler's later work, that position was integrated into the natural philosophy vitalistic theory of mnemism, itself part of a more comprehensive theory, without any corrections to its content. Eugen Bleuler always remained a critic of criminal law, although it can be seen from later expert's reports that he for the most part accepted the existing system for the administration of justice for practical reasons. However, Bleuler always defended the idea that punishment should not be based on the moral guilt of the perpetrator but rather on the prospect of curing him.

Criminal Psychology↗
PubMed2002

[Eugen Bleulers propositions to psychiatric treatment].

The historical review of Eugen Bleulers concepts and proposals to treatment in psychiatry, generally and especially for schizophrenia, covers the years between his inaugural lecture 1898 as professor of psychiatry at the University of Zurich to his last edition of his textbook 1937. Already at the beginning of his career as professor in Zurich, he had a very intimate knowledge of psychiatric patients from his 12 years as director of the Mental Hospital Rheinau (near Zurich) where he lived as a bachelor with his patients in the same building. In his inaugural lecture, Bleuler already discussed very practical problems of psychiatric service. e.g. work, employment, marriage, situation in patient's family, housing, occupational therapy etc. Working in the group of other patients should help to re-establish the relationship to the common reality and the society. Psychotherapy for schizophrenics was mentioned in 1911 as the only serious therapy, but was not further elaborated. In 1939, Bleuler was much more sceptical concerning the realistic possibilities of an efficient psychotherapy of schizophrenia. Psychoanalysis would only allow a psychological understanding of some symptoms in schizophrenia but would be unable to contribute to a theory of the underlying pathogenesis. In his view, schizophrenia has its own inherent development. This resignation concerning constructive and efficient therapy dominates his confession even in his last lecture when retiring 1927. Considering the paucity of therapeutic possibilities, Bleuler underlined the importance of prophylactic eugenic strategies.

Germany↗
PubMed1999

[The general psychological concept in the later work of Eugen Bleulers. Comparison with a summarized description from a forgotten theory 60 years after the final publication (1939)].

Documents by Eugen Bleuler from 1921 to 1939 that go into general psychological topics of meaning of consciousness, formation of motive and will, are presented. An effort towards integration of seemingly incompatible, side by side standing, unrelated biological and psychological concepts that probably is most likely explainable by the contemporary background of ideas, is recognizable. In this context, Eugen Bleuler refers to an already (especially by Richard Semon) systematically developed theory called "Mnemism" that he interpreted and applied to the psychological circumstances mentioned above. That theory of "mnemism" that can be most adequately described as a biogenetic-vitalistic theory, is assuming, that all organic life--independent of the possibility of a self-reflecting consciousness--is able to learn experiences made by analysis of environment and to pass it on following generations. Pattern of stimulus reactions are in the sense of this theory memorized ("engraphiert") and reactivated under similar situational circumstances ("ekphoriert") by the psychological mode of association.--It can be shown that Bleuler pursued this theory for a period of more than ten years. It represents the benchmark for Bleuler's standpoints, for example for the question of determination of human acting, that as itselves are already known from his earlier documents, but here have found a more theoretically based explanation. The assumption of the efficacy of specific, not necessary consciously remembered "engramms" of memory, suggests the hypothesis of the existence of unconsciousness; in this context textual points of contact to the psychological concepts of S. Freud and C. G. Jung--mnemic memory and collective unconscious--are shown.

Consciousness↗
PubMed2002

euGenes: a eukaryote genome information system.

euGenes is a genome information system and database that provides a common summary of eukaryote genes and genomes, at http://iubio.bio.indiana.edu/eugenes/. Seven popular genomes are included: human, mouse, fruitfly, Caenorhabditis elegans worm, Saccharomyces yeast, Arabidopsis mustard weed and zebrafish, with more planned. This information, automatically extracted and updated from several source databases, offers features not readily available through other genome databases to bioscientists looking for gene relationships across organisms. The database describes 150 000 known, predicted and orphan genes, using consistent gene names along with their homologies and associations with a standard vocabulary of molecular functions, cell locations and biological processes. Usable whole-genome maps including features, chromosome locations and molecular data integration are available, as are options to retrieve sequences from these genomes. Search and retrieval methods for these data are easy to use and efficient, allowing one to ask combined questions of sequence features, protein functions and other gene attributes, and fetch results in reports, computable tabular outputs or bulk database forms. These summarized data are useful for integration in other projects, such as gene expression databases. euGenes provides an extensible, flexible genome information system for many organisms.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Eugenics or empowered choice? Community issues arising from prenatal testing.

The prevention of inherited disabilities is viewed in two contrasting ways--either as enhancing reproductive choice and improving population health, or as discriminating against disabled community members. We argue that modern clinical genetics, including preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), reflects a persistent and defensible desire by the community to prevent disability, rather than as increasing discrimination or threatening to produce a 'new eugenic' society Screening should be presented as a distinct issue for decision-making about the prevention or acceptance of disability, rather than as a routinely accepted component of antenatal care. The community must improve its understanding of the experiences of those who manage disability, and continue to debate the issues of discrimination, selective genetic prevention and enhancement, reproductive freedom, and eugenics.

Australia↗