01-07-2003, 02:30 PM
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#1
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Louisville, KY, USA
Posts: 1,840
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Chinese Attitudes Towards Eugenics
I read an article in the American Journal of Human Genetics about the practive of eugenics in China. I was surprised, because I had no idea that this was already happening, or that attitudes towards 'eugenics' were so different in China than they are in the west. To repeat my own opinion as a disclaimer: I disagree with reproductive restriction in virtually any case (I can think of a handful of exceptions), but welcome wholeheartedly the use of genetic information to help potential parents make informed, voluntary decisions about reproduction.
Quote:
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To identify Chinese geneticists' views of ethical issues in genetic testing and screening, a national survey was conducted. Of 402 Chinese geneticists asked to participate, 255 (63%) returned by mail anonymous questionnaires. The majority of respondents thought that genetic testing should be offered in the workplace for -antitrypsin deficiency (95%) and the predisposition of executives to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes (94%); that genetic testing should be included in preemployment physical examinations (86%); that governments should require premarital carrier tests (86%), newborn screening for sickle cell (77%), and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (71%); and that children should be tested for genes for late-onset disorders such as Huntington disease (85%), susceptibility to cancers (85%), familial hypercholesterolemia (84%), alcoholism (69%), and Alzheimer disease (61%). Most believed that partners should know each other's genetic status before marriage (92%), that carriers of the same defective gene should not mate with each other (91%), and that women should have a prenatal diagnosis if medically indicated (91%). The majority said that in China decisions about family planning were shared by the couple (82%). More than half had views that, in China, there were no laws to prohibit disability discrimination (64%), particularly to protect people with adult polycystic kidney disease (57%), cystic fibrosis (56%), or genetic predisposition to other diseases (50%). To some extent, these results might provide a basis for a discussion of eugenics in China, particularly about China's Maternal and Infant Health Care Law (1994).
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Chinese Geneticists' Views of Ethical Issues in Genetic Testing and Screening: Evidence for Eugenics in China. Am. J. Hum. Genet., 63:688-695, 1998.
Other relevant stuff from AJHJ:
Chen et al. (1999) Letter to the Editor. Am J Hum Genet 65:1199-1199.
Guo (1999) Letters to the Editor. Am J Hum Genet 65:1197-1199
American Society of Human Genetics Statement on Eugenics and the Misuse of Genetic Information to Restrict Reproductive Freedom
Patrick
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