New eugenics
New eugenics, also known as liberal eugenics, advocates enhancing human characteristics and capacities through the use of reproductive technology and human genetic engineering. New eugenics purports to distinguish itself from the forms of eugenics practiced and advocated in the 20th century, which fell into disrepute after World War II.[1]
Those who advocate for new eugenics generally think selecting or altering embryos should be left to the preferences of parents, rather than forbidden or left to the preferences of the state. Opponents argue that such practices may lead to increased social inequality and create new types of stigma against people with genetic traits deemed undesirable.
New eugenics practices
[edit]Eugenics is sometimes broken into the categories of positive eugenics (encouraging reproduction among those designated "fit") and negative eugenics (discouraging or prohibiting reproduction among those designated "unfit"). Both positive and negative eugenic programs were advocated and pursued during the early 20th century. Negative programs were responsible for the compulsory sterilization of hundreds of thousands of persons in many countries, and were a cornerstone of Nazi eugenic policies of racial hygiene which ultimately led to genocide.[2]
New eugenics generally supports genetic modification or genetic selection of individuals for traits that are supposed to improve human welfare. The underlying idea is to improve the genetic basis of future generations and reduce the incidence of genetic diseases and other traits considered undesirable. Some of the practices included in new eugenics are: prenatal testing,[3] pre-implantation diagnosis and embryo selection,[4][5] selective breeding,[6] and human embryo engineering and gene therapy.[7][8]
Ethical status
[edit]![[icon]](/newspapers?url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion with: Needs more information on the reasons behind the criticisms: disability rights perspective and social pressure if many people use the technologies. You can help by adding missing information. (February 2026) |
Arguments used in favor of new eugenics include the claim that it is in the best interest of society that progeny have the best chance of achieving success as defined by that society.[8] Ethical arguments against new eugenics include the claim that creating designer babies is not in the best interest of society, as it might create a breach between genetically modified individuals and natural individuals.[9] Additionally, some of these technologies might be economically restrictive, further increasing the socio-economic gap.[6]
The United Nations International Bioethics Committee wrote that the ethical status of new eugenics should not be conflated with that of 20th century eugenics movements. Nevertheless they state that new eugenics is problematic because it challenges the idea of human equality and opens up new ways of discrimination and stigmatization against those who do not want or cannot afford genetic enhancements.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Goering, Sara (2 July 2014). "Eugenics". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014.
- ^ Black E (2003). War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race. Four Walls Eight Windows. ISBN 1-56858-258-7. OCLC 1035882630.
- ^ Thomas, G. M.; Rothman, B. K. (2016-04-01). "Keeping the Backdoor to Eugenics Ajar?: Disability and the Future of Prenatal Screening". AMA Journal of Ethics. 18 (4): 406–415. doi:10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.4.stas1-1604. ISSN 2376-6980. PMID 27099190.
- ^ King, D. S. (1999-04-01). "Preimplantation genetic diagnosis and the 'new' eugenics". Journal of Medical Ethics. 25 (2): 176–182. doi:10.1136/jme.25.2.176. ISSN 0306-6800. PMC 479204. PMID 10226925.
- ^ Sussman, Anna Louie (2025-04-01). "Should Human Life Be Optimized?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
- ^ a b Hoffman, Allison K (2017-12-01). "Review of The New Eugenics: Selective Breeding in an Era of Reproductive Technologies". Journal of Law and the Biosciences. 4 (3): 671–7. doi:10.1093/jlb/lsx025. ISSN 2053-9711. PMC 5965496.
- ^ King DS (April 1999). "Preimplantation genetic diagnosis and the 'new' eugenics". Journal of Medical Ethics. 25 (2): 176–82. doi:10.1136/jme.25.2.176. PMC 479204. PMID 10226925.
- ^ a b "Regulating Eugenics". Harvard Law Review. 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
- ^ Galton, DJ (2005-01-01). "Eugenics: some lessons from the past". Reproductive BioMedicine Online. 10: 133–6. doi:10.1016/S1472-6483(10)62222-5. ISSN 1472-6483. PMID 15820025.
- ^ International Bioethics Committee (October 2, 2015). "Report of the IBC on Updating Its Reflection on the Human Genome and Human Rights" (PDF). UNESCO. OCLC 932076434. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
The goal of enhancing individuals and the human species by engineering the genes related to some characteristics and traits is not to be confused with the barbarous projects of eugenics that planned the simple elimination of human beings considered as 'imperfect' on an ideological basis. However, it impinges upon the principle of respect for human dignity in several ways. It weakens the idea that the differences among human beings, regardless of the measure of their endowment, are exactly what the recognition of their equality presupposes and therefore protects. It introduces the risk of new forms of discrimination and stigmatization for those who cannot afford such enhancement or simply do not want to resort to it. The arguments that have been produced in favour of the so-called liberal eugenics do not trump the indication to apply the limit of medical reasons also in this case.
Further reading
[edit]- Agar, Nicholas (2019). "Why we Should Defend Gene Editing as Eugenics". Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. 28 (1): 9–19. doi:10.1017/S0963180118000336. PMID 30570459. S2CID 58195676.
- Sparrow, Robert (2014). "In Vitro Eugenics". Journal of Medical Ethics. 40 (11): 725–731. doi:10.1136/medethics-2012-101200. PMID 23557913. S2CID 959092.
- Wilson, Robert A. (1 October 2019). "Eugenics Undefended". Monash Bioethics Review. 37 (1): 68–75. doi:10.1007/s40592-019-00094-w. PMID 31325149. S2CID 198131924.
- Pavlovic, Sonja; Ugrin, Milena; Gasic, Vladimir; Rakic, Vojin (2023). "Chapter 15 - Using genetics for enhancement (liberal eugenics)". In Hostiuc, Sorin (ed.). Clinical Ethics At the Crossroads of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies (2nd ed.). Academic Press. pp. 347–379. doi:10.1016/B978-0-443-19045-2.00008-8. ISBN 978-0-443-19045-2.
- Sandel, Michael (2004). "The Case Against Perfection". The Atlantic Monthly.