Eugenics
Eugenics refers to beliefs and practices aimed at controlling reproduction in order to “improve” the characteristics of human populations. In the early 20th century, eugenic beliefs were intertwined with the developing science of genetics. These ideas were popular across the political spectrum in many countries, providing scientific cover for practices and policies targeting society’s most vulnerable communities. In the U.S., these included the forced sterilization of tens of thousands of people considered “unfit,” stringent immigration restrictions, and public policies that encouraged “fitter families” to produce more children. In Germany, the Nazis used similar concepts to justify their extermination of Jews, people with disabilities, homosexuals, and other groups. A century later, many social justice advocates and scholars are concerned that a new form of eugenics – guided by market dynamics and individual choice, rather than government policies – may emerge alongside new human genetic technologies.
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At the turn of the 20th century, U.S. scientists proposed the control of reproduction to advance society based on the...
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In late 2018, UC Berkeley bioethics professor Osagie K. Obasogie received a campus email about a research fund available to...
Gene editing technology like CRISPR may have potential to treat diseases, but does editing future generations go too far? In this August 9, 2022 event, we heard renowned bioethicist Françoise Baylis, reproductive justice activist Nourbese Flint, and disability rights scholar and activist Karen Nakamura discuss the serious societal and ethical implications of human gene editing in the context of assisted reproductive technology. This discussion was moderated by Osagie Obasogie, professor of law and bioethics at UC Berkeley.
(For those who participated in the live event, the audio on this version has been fixed, and missing slides have been added.)
Published November 17, 2022
The prospect of using CRISPR gene editing in reproduction is often justified by claims that it will eliminate disease and disability. But these claims draw on societal narratives that devalue people with disabilities. In this roundtable conversation, Silvia Yee (Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund), Larkin Taylor-Parker (Autistic Self Advocacy Network), and Teresa Blankmeyer Burke (Gallaudet University) explore how new disability rights narratives can challenge uses of genetic and reproductive technologies based in ingrained ableism, and promote futures in which disabled people flourish. Rebecca Cokley (Ford Foundation) moderated the discussion.
Full transcript and additional information about the speakers and topic can be found on the CGS website: https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/in...
This event on November 14, 2022 was co-sponsored by Center for Genetics and Society and Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund.
Center for Genetics and Society: https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund: https://dredf.org/
Published September 21, 2022
How should we talk about equity in the context of human genome editing? While sky-high costs and lack of access to potential somatic gene therapies are important to address, we also need to ask critical questions about health equity, sovereignty, and racial justice––particularly in relation to heritable genome editing, which would alter the genes and traits of future generations. This roundtable discussion with Indigenous geneticist-bioethicist Krystal Tsosie, reproductive justice scholar and advocate Dorothy Roberts, and educator and activist Milton Reynolds addresses the legacies of eugenics, honoring Indigenous sovereignty, decolonizing DNA, and why conversations about heritable genome editing urgently need voices and perspectives grounded in social justice and human rights. This discussion was hosted by Center for Genetics and Society and moderated by CGS associate director Katie Hasson.
Access a full transcript and learn more about the event and speakers at https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/in....
Published March 2, 2023
This two-part online CGS event centers social justice and human rights, presenting voices and perspectives from feminist, disability rights, reproductive rights and justice, racial justice, environmental, and human rights movements and scholars, who question whether heritable genome editing has any place in a fair and inclusive future. Day 2 of the symposium includes two panels: "Missing voices speak out," featuring Larkin Taylor Parker, Abril Saldaña, Dana Perls, and Nourbese Flint, and moderated by Emily Galpern; and "Genetic justice beyond the summit," featuring Isabelle Bartram, Maria Ní Flatharta, Milton Reynolds, and Katie Hasson.
This two-part online CGS event centers social justice and human rights, presenting voices and perspectives from feminist, disability rights, reproductive rights and justice, racial justice, environmental, and human rights movements and scholars, who question whether heritable genome editing has any place in a fair and inclusive future. Part one took place on February 27, 2023 and features CGS Executive Director Marcy Darnovsky discussing history and context of the Summit process, followed by Dorothy Roberts, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, George Annas and Silvia Yee (moderator) in conversation to discuss the social justice case against heritable genome editing.
View a recording of the February 25, 2021 event sponsored by the San Francisco Asian Art Museum:
With film clips and discussion, this DEAI series workshop explores a dangerous idea that has threatened the American Dream from the beginning: the belief that some groups and individuals are inherently superior to others and more deserving of fundamental rights. View excerpts from the 2018 documentary “A Dangerous Idea,” which reveals how biologically determined politics has disenfranchised women and people of color and provided a rationale for state-sanctioned crimes committed against America’s most vulnerable citizens, and discuss the meaning, use, and misuse of gene science. With UC Berkeley bioethicist and Center for Genetics and Society senior fellow Osagie K. Obasogie, Marcy Darnovsky, executive director at the Center for Genetics and Society, and “A Dangerous Idea” filmmaker Stephanie Welch. Moderated by Milton Reynolds.
Rosemarie Garland-Thompson discusses "Biomedical Ethics and the Existential Threat to Persons with Disabilities" at the Columbia Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center.