PHIL 235 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Sexual Sterilization Act Of Alberta, Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, Molecular Cloning

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Chapter 6
Fisher
Genetic Technology Use
Introduction
Improving human lives by eliminating genetic abnormalities certainly
promotes beneficence for both the individual and the society that
funds her health care, and few could fail to see the advantages to be
gained from genetic improvements to intelligence, stamina, disease
resistance, longevity, and so on
Many fear we may open a Pandora’s box of unforeseen harms that we
will not be able to fix.
Eugenics= Eugenics= from Greek, means “good breeding” or “good
birth,” and in traditional forms of crop breeding and animal husbandry
it has been applied, historically, to selective breeding programs aimed
at improving the qualities and well-being of plants or animals.
Eugenics may be described as either “positive,” when exemplary
individuals are bred together in the hope that excellent qualities will
be passed on, or “negative,” when unfavorable qualities are essentially
bred out of a species, typically by preventing individuals from
reproducing
Eugenics is the study of agencies under social control that may
improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations, whether
physically or mentally.”
The idea that society could be improved by limiting the number of
people with particular disabilities caught on in the United States after
a 1927 ruling by the US Supreme Court upheld a Virginia law giving
the state permission to sterilize “defective persons.” The ruling
concerned the case of Carrie Buck, a 20-year-old patient at Virginia’s
State Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded. Raised by foster
parents after her mother was committed to the same institution, Carrie
Buck became pregnant and gave birth at the age of 17, having been
raped by a relative of her foster parents. She was institutionalized on
the grounds that she had inherited her mother’s sexual promiscuity
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and feeble-mindedness, and the belief that she would in turn pass
these heritable traits on to any additional children she might bear
figured prominently in the court’s decision to uphold the state’s
Eugenical Sterilization Act. The Supreme Court ruling opened the
door to sterilizing thousands of “unfit” citizens: approximately 65,000
people in 30 states were sterilized without their permission over the
next 50 years
In 1928 the Province of Alberta passed its own eugenic sterilization
law, becoming the only jurisdiction in the British Empire to do so.
The Alberta Eugenics Board sterilized 2832 children and adults
prior to 1972, the year the province’s Sexual Sterilization Act was
repealed
Spread to Europe, where the German Nazi party wholeheartedly
embraced the concept. Their slide down the slippery slope from
sterilization to outright murder is well documented and continues to
fuel the fear of eugenics in the popular mind.
Deeper consideration also shows that even in the absence of a
governmental policy, the fact is that we continue to practice eugenics
at the individual level in Canada today
Parents with reason to suspect a genetic abnormality in their offspring
can use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to create embryos that are then
genetically tested; only healthy embryos are implanted in the
mother’s womb, while the unhealthy embryos are destroyed. In an
attempt to identify all fetuses with Down syndrome, which is
associated with both physical and mental disabilities, Canada’s
Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that all
pregnant women, regardless of age, be offered prenatal genetic
screening through an informed consent process.
Genetic testing = the use oftests to diagnose or predict the
presence of or susceptibility to genetic conditions in individuals
considered to be at high risk for a particular disorder, based on clinical
symptoms, family history, or a positive genetic screen.
Genetic screening= the use of various tests to evaluate a person,
group, or population for the presence of or susceptibility to certain
genetic conditions without regard to family history of the condition or
risk factors such as age
he first is recombinant DNA technology, also known as “DNA cloning” or
“gene cloning.” It involves the transfer of a DNA fragment from one
organism to a self-replicating genetic element, such as a bacterial plasmid.
The DNA of interest is then propagated in a foreign host cell. Recombinant
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DNA technology has a variety of applications in the diagnosis and treatment
of various disorders.
Reproductive cloning generates an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as
another currently or previously existing animal.
Therapeutic cloning= also called “embryo cloning,” in which human
embryos are produced exclusively for use in research. The goal of this
process is to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human
development and to treat disease.
The AHR Act prohibits payment to egg and sperm donors and bans “the
manipulation of human reproductive material to create a human embryo.” It
also “clearly prohibits all forms of human cloning, whether for
reproductive, research or therapeutic purposes and regardless of the
techniques used, whether currently known or still to be developed,
Genetic treatment (or therapy)= the process of providing or undergoing
treatment to change the genome of an individual living with genetic
abnormalities, in order to help improve the quality and/or length of life.
Genetic enhancement= the action of making changes to an individual’s genome
in order to improveits genetic code and generate desirable characteristics
beyond what is typical for the species,such as genetically engineering an
individual with enhanced speed or intelligence
For example, gene therapy is used to reverse hair loss in patients who are
undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer. But what if a physician is asked
to prescribe the same therapy for purposes she feels are not clinically
justified, such as the cosmetic treatment of male pattern baldness? This
leads to questions about the appropriateness of using medical resources to
provide genetic therapy for enhancement of normal human functions
rather than treatment of impaired human function
In this context, enhancement is considered positive genetic engineering
because it is used to make improvements in the individual, and treatment is
seen as negative genetic therapy (or engineering), used to remove defects
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Document Summary

Raised by foster parents after her mother was committed to the same institution, carrie. Buck became pregnant and gave birth at the age of 17, having been raped by a relative of her foster parents. The alberta eugenics board sterilized 2832 children and adults prior to 1972, the year the province"s sexual sterilization act was repealed: spread to europe, where the german nazi party wholeheartedly embraced the concept. In an attempt to identify all fetuses with down syndrome, which is associated with both physical and mental disabilities, canada"s. Gene cloning. it involves the transfer of a dna fragment from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element, such as a bacterial plasmid. The dna of interest is then propagated in a foreign host cell. This leads to questions about the appropriateness of using medical resources to provide genetic therapy for enhancement of normal human functions rather than treatment of impaired human function.

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