Eugenics and Bioethics:two interconnected histories

HSCI E137 Feb 2, 2011

http://isites.harvard.edu/k78554Announcements:

After-class section meets tonight in G135

Online section begins Sun Feb 6, 7-8 pm

Introduce yourself on the website discussion forum

Eugenics

• The term was coined by Galton in 1883; eugenics became a movement in the early twentieth century, in certain scientific and social contexts.

• Worked by using Mendelian templates both for physical and mental traits: improvement of the race through better breeding.

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“The Direct Cost of the Socially InadequateTo New York State”Popular article, 1928

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Eugenics tree logo, circa 1925

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“The Burden of the Feeble-Minded”(1913)

Heredity chart of Emma W, bornFebruary 11, 1889

(darkened circles indicate “mental

defective”)

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Kansas State Free Fair, Topeka, Fitter Families Contestexamining staff and “sweepstakes” winning family (1920)

Positive eugenics: the encouragement of the breeding of the “fit”

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“Every 15 seconds $100 of your money goes for the care of persons with bad heredity.”Flashing light sign used with small exhibits

Fitter Families Contest, 1926

Negative eugenics: prevention of the “unfit” from breeding

Negative eugenics laws:

• Marriage restriction between the races

• Compulsory sterilization of “degenerates”

• Immigration restriction

Dedicated institutions of eugenics

• Eugenics Record Office (Davenport and Laughlin)

• American Breeders Association

• Race Betterment Foundation

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Brochure, circa 1927,Eugenics Record Office:“Every marriage is anexperiment in heredity.”

Eugenics laws

• Against race mixing– Madison Grant, Passing of the Great Race

(1916)– Calvin Coolidge: “Biological laws tell us

certain divergent people should not mix or blend.”

– 1924 Virginia Racial Integrity Act

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“The New Virginia LawTo Preserve Racial Integritypassed the House March 8,1924, and is now a law of

the State.”Virginia Health Bulletin 16

(March 1924)

Eugenics laws

• Compulsory sterilization– 1914, Laughlin’s “Model Eugenical

Sterilization Law”– 1924, Virginia passed Eugenical Sterilization

Act based on Laughlin’s model law• Challenged in Buck v. Bell (1927), but upheld by

Supreme Court; Holmes wrote: “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

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Bar chart shows 21,539 sterilizations as of Jan 1, 1935(Harry Laughlin papers, Truman State University)

Eugenics laws

• Immigration restriction– 1924, Laughlin testified to Congress on an

Immigration Restriction Bill-- resulted in Act of 1924

Reclaiming of eugenics in the 1960s

• Muller: “The odious perversions of the subject should not blind us longer to a set of hard truths and of genuine ethical values….If these truths are recognized…they may open the way to an immeasurable extension and enhancement of the potentialities of human existence.”

(1961)

Reclaiming eugenics

• Sinsheimer: “Today there is much talk about the possibility of human genetic modification. A new eugenics has arisen…. For the first time in all time a living creature understands its origin and can undertake to design its future.” (1969)

Reclaiming eugenics

• Watson: “If we could honestly promise young couples that we knew how to give them offspring with superior character, why should we assume they would decline?… Common sense tells us that if scientists find ways to greatly improve human capabilities, there would be no stopping the public from happily seizing them.” (1996)

History of bioethics

• First Code of Ethics of AMA (1847)

• Nuremberg Code (1947)

• Declaration of Helsinki (1964)

• The Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972)

• The Belmont Report (1979)

History of bioethics

• Bioethics as reactive

• The historical trajectory from paternalism to empowerment

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as a history of bioethics