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6 Colonial Law. 12 (1976)
Positive Eugenics and the Law

handle is hein.journals/colaw6 and id is 12 raw text is: POSITIVE EUGENICS AND THE LAW Mark Horoschak The term eugenics was coined by Sir Francis Galton in 1883 to denote the study and manipulation of factors that improve hereditary qualities. The goal of negative eugenics is the diminution of inferior genetic qualities. Positive eugenics, on the other, hand, entails the propagation of superior genes. Initially, interest in eugenics centered on the negative aspect of the science, that is the reduction of totally dependent individuals who are born into the world only to suffer and be cared for by society. The negative eugenics movement reached its zenith in the early twentieth century when organizations like the Interna- tional Eugenics Congress were formed to combat genetic degeneration. The Congress favored premarital syphilis tests, incest prohibitions, antimiscegenation laws and sterilization statutes. To a large degree the Congress succeeded in achieving its goals. The Wasserman test was instituted, incest and antimiscegenation laws were enacted, and statutes providing for the sterilization of mental defectives and criminals became commonplace. The Congress, however, was a casualty of the Second World War. The horrible experience of the Nazi Rassen- hygiene resulted in a distaste for genetic experimentation shared by scientist and layman alike. The realities of our modem age have rekindled interest in genetic engineering. Genes are chemical substances that are not completely stable. Mutations may occur from chemical imbalances or radiation during the reproductive process. Radioactive fallout from nuclear testing, medical X-rays and chemical additives in food are largely re- sponsible for the increased genetic load and, hence, the increased rate of mutation. Today about one child in twenty is born with a discernible genetic defect.' Still others die before birth because of the disruptive impact mutations have on genetic coordination. Recognition of the implications of the genetic load problem has prompted research in the area of positive eugenics. The most recent developments in this field are collectively known as cloning. The term cloning, which means cutting, is a botanical term that refers to a type of asexual reproduction that is characterized by the creation of individuals that are derived from a single parent and genetically identical to that parent. The cloning process may be divided into two stages. Enu- cleation involves the removal of the nucleus from a female egg (a sex cell is haploid, containing only one set of chromosomes). The second stage, known as re- nucleation calls for replacement of the egg nucleus by the nucleus from an adult body cell (a diploid cell, having both sets of chromosomes) of the prospective parent. Cloning experimentation on plant and lower forms of animal life has been successful in reproducing gene- tically identical progeny. THE CASE FOR BANNING HUMAN GENETIC EXPERIMENTATION As of the time of this writing, a considerable furor has arisen in the academic community over the question of whether to commence human cloning experimentation. Prominent men of science: Dr. Leon Kass, the executive secretary of the Committee for the Life Sciences and Social Policy of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. James D. Watson, the Nobel laureate molecular biologist, and prominent theologian Professor Paul Ramsey have urged a total prohibition of human cloning.

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