jĕn`ĭks), study of human genetics genome, or characteristic set of genes, that contains the total genetic information for an individual organism. In many familiar organisms two genes for each trait are present in each individual, and these paired genes, both governing the same trait, are calledalleles.
..... Click the link for more information. and of methods to improve the inherited characteristics, physical and mental, of the human race. Efforts to improve the human race through bettering housing facilities and other environmental conditions are known as euthenics.
Sir Francis Galton Galton, Sir Francis (gôl`tən), 1822–1911, English scientist, founder of eugenics; cousin of Charles Darwin .
..... Click the link for more information. , who introduced the term eugenics, is usually regarded as the founder of the modern science of eugenics; his emphasis was on the role of factors under social control that could either improve or impair the qualities of future generations. Modern eugenics is directed chiefly toward the discouragement of propagation among the unfit (negative eugenics) and encouragement of propagation among those who are healthy, intelligent, and of high moral character (positive eugenics). Such a program involves many difficulties, especially that of defining which traits are most desirable.
The first half of the 20th cent. saw extreme coercive application of such principles by governments ranging from miscegenation laws and enforced sterilization of the insane in the United States and other nations to the Holocaust Holocaust (hŏl`əkôst', hō`lə–)
..... Click the link for more information. of Nazi Germany. Regulated eugenics continues in some parts of the world; China enacted restrictions on marriages involving persons with certain disabilities and diseases in 1994.
In the United States in recent years, interest in eugenics has centered around genetic screening genetic screening, testing for genetic disorders. Most commonly, prospective parents or an embryo or fetus is tested when a specific genetic disorder is suspected (e.g., Tay-Sachs or sickle cell disease ).
..... Click the link for more information. . It is known, for example, that hemophilia, albinism, and certain structural abnormalities are inheritable. Family gene maps, called pedigrees, can help families with serious diseases avoid having children with the same diseases through genetic counseling, and, increasingly, prospective parents can be tested directly for the presence of undesired genes. If conception has occurred, tests such as amniocentesis amniocentesis (ăm'nēō'sĕntē`sĭs)
..... Click the link for more information. and chorionic villus sampling chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or chorionic villus biopsy (CVB) (kōr'ē-ŏn`ĭk, kôr'–)
..... Click the link for more information. can be used to detect certain genetic defects in the fetus. Embryo biopsy embryo biopsy or preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), diagnostic procedure, used in genetic screening , in which a single cell is removed from an embryo two or three days after it has been conceived through in vitro fertilization .
..... Click the link for more information. , or preimplantation diagnosis, can be used in conjunction with in vitro fertilization in vitro fertilization (vē`trō, vĭ`trō), technique for conception of a human embryo outside the mother's body.
..... Click the link for more information. prior to pregnancy to test embryos for a number of genetic defects; only those found free of defects are implanted and allowed to develop.
Bibliography
See J. H. Bennett, Natural Selection, Heredity, and Eugenics (1983); D. J. Kevles, In the Name of Eugenics (1985); M. B. Adams, ed., The Wellborn Science: Eugenics in Germany, France, Brazil, and Russia (1989); E. A. Carlson, The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea (2001).
eugenics
Study of human improvement by genetic means. The first thorough exposition of eugenics was made by Francis Galton, who in Hereditary Genius (1869) proposed that a system of arranged marriages between men of distinction and women of wealth would eventually produce a gifted race. The American Eugenics Society, founded in 1926, supported Galton's theories. U.S. eugenicists also supported restriction on immigration from nations with “inferior” stock, such as Italy, Greece, and countries of eastern Europe, and argued for the sterilization of insane, retarded, and epileptic citizens. Sterilization laws were passed in more than half the states, and isolated instances of involuntary sterilization continued into the 1970s. The assumptions of eugenicists came under sharp criticism beginning in the 1930s and were discredited after the German Nazis used eugenics to support the extermination of Jews, blacks, and homosexuals. See also genetics, race, social Darwinism.
eugenics
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