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10 S. Ill. U. L.J. 435 (1985)
Genetics, Eugenics, and Public Policy

handle is hein.journals/siulj10 and id is 449 raw text is: Genetics, Eugenics, and Public Policy George P. Smith, II* I. INTRODUCTION Substantial scientific evidence indicates man's genetic inheritance acts as a major influence not only upon his behavior but also upon his health.' In the United States, for example, it is estimated that one out of every twenty babies is born with a discernible genetic deficiency;2 of all chronic diseases, between twenty and twenty-five per cent are predomi- nantly genetic in origin.3 At least half of the hospital beds in America are occupied by patients whose incapacities are known to be of a genetic origin.4 Because modern medicine can alleviate the symptoms of some genetic diseases through sophisticated treatment, many who are afflicted and who would not have survived in the past now survive. Medicine is unable to cure genetic defects;5 however, those afficted with genetic dis- eases who are kept alive by modern technologies can reproduce and thus may increase the number of defective genes in the gene pool.6 Considerable research into techniques for perfecting genetic engi- neering has been undertaken in an attempt to develop new treatment for * Visiting Professor of Law, Notre Dame University; Professor of Law, The Catholic Univer- sity of America, Washington, D.C. B.S., J.D., Indiana University, LL.M. Columbia University. During the summer of 1981, the author was a Visiting Scholar at The Lilly Library, Indiana Univer- sity, Bloomington, Indiana, where he studied the papers of the late Professor Herman Muller, the Nobel Laureate in Genetics. The research of that summer is utilized herein together with subse- quent study undertaken by virtue of the author's Fulbright-Hays award in Australia as the Fulbright Visiting Professor of Law and Medical Jurisprudence at The University of New South Wales, Syd- ney, Australia, in 1984. 1. See S. STANLEY, THE NEW EVOLUTIONARY TIMETABLE (1981); T. DOBZHANSKY, GE- NETIC DIVERSITY AND HUMAN EQUALITY (1973); Muller, The Human Future, in THE HUMANIST FRAME 401 (J. Huxley ed. 1961); Muller, Human Values in Relation to Evolution, 127 SCIENCE 625- 29 (1958); Muller, Genetic Principles in Human Populations, 83 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY 277 (1956); Muller, The Threads that Weave Evolution, 3 TRANSACTIONS, N.Y. ACADEMY SCIENCE, 117-25 (Series 11 1941); C. DARLINGTON, THE EVOLUTION OF MAN AND SOCIETY (1969). 2. Gorney, The New Biology and the Future of Man, 15 UCLA L. REV. 273, 291 (1968). 3. Robinson, Genetics and Society, 1971 UTAH L. REV. 487. Approximately 30,000 severely defective infants are born each year and afflicted with grave handicapping conditions that range from spina bifida to anencephaly. Ellis, Letting Defective Babies Die: Who Decides?, 7 AM. J. LAW & MED. 393 n.l (1981). 4. See supra note 1 and accompanying text. 5. Waltz & Thigpen, Genetic Screening and Counseling: The Legal and Ethical Issues, 68 Nw. U.L. REV. 696-98 (1973). 6. Id. at 698.

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