Cloning, inheritable genetic modification (IGM), and other new genetic and reproductive technologies raise special concerns for racial and ethnic groups that are, or have been, targets of discrimination:
"Old-style" racism Ideological racists such as David Duke,
former National Director of the Ku Klux Klan, and sociologist Glayde
Whitney, before his death, became vocal advocates of cloning, IGM,
and the new eugenics.
Increased discrimination through "genism" Efforts to identify
particular genes and obtain statistical correlations between these
and behaviorial and social data could lead to gross abuse.
A new and more powerful eugenics At the extreme, efforts to link
particular genes with behavioral and social data could lead to calls
for those genes to be eliminated from the human species.
Related Articles
"World Conference on Racism Addresses Human Genetic Engineering,"
Genetic Crossroads (#20, October 3, 2001)
Newsletter
>> Archive >> Issue 20
Off-Site Links
Information on the history of eugenics and racism:
- Jonathan Marks, "Racism, Eugenics
and the Burden of History," paper presented at the IX
International Congress of Human Genetics, Rio de Janeiro
(August 20, 1996)
http://www.uncc.edu/jmarks/interests/RIO.html - The Cold Spring Harbor DNA Learning Center maintains a
comprehensive and engaging website on eugenics.
http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/
Information on David Duke, Glayde Whitney, and the new racist
eugenics:
- The Institute for the Study of Academic Racism - lists
articles about Glayde Whitney
http://www.ferris.edu/isar/Whitney/homepage.htm - Glayde Whitney, "Reproduction Technology for a New Eugenics,"
paper for The Galton Institute conference Man and Society in
the New Millennium (September 1999); published in The
Mankind Quarterly (Vol. 40, No. 2, 1999), pages 179-192
http://www.eugenics.net/papers/gw002.html
Information on genetic discrimination and "genism":
- Dorothy Roberts, "Race and the New
Reproduction," in Killing the Black Body (New York:
Pantheon, 1997), pages 104-149
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/rt21/race/ROBERTS6.html - George J. Annas, "Genism, Racism,
and the Prospect of Genetic Genocide," presented at the World
Conference Against Racism (September 2001)
http://www.bumc.bu.edu/www/sph/lw/pvl/genism.htm - Paul Billings, "The Need for Federal Legislation Protecting
Against Genetic Discrimination," written testimony submitted to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce (July 11, 2001)
http://www.gene-watch.org/programs/privacy/phil-testimony.html - Council for Responsible Genetics, "Position Paper on Genetic
Discrimination"
http://www.gene-watch.org/programs/privacy/genetic-disc-position.html
Organizations addressing the new human genetic technologies:
- West Harlem Environmental Action conference, Human
Genetics, Environment, and Communities of Color: Ethical and
Social Implications(February 2002), co-sponsored by the
National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the
NIEHS Center for Environmental Health at the Mailman School of
Public Health (Columbia University), and the Harlem Health
Promotion Center.
http://www.weact.org/genetics/index.html - Public Interest Biotechnology ("Biotech for
Communities")
http://www.pibiotech.org/index.html - The Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment (CWPE)
is a multi-racial alliance of feminist activists, health
practitioners and scholars. They have been actively involved in
the critique of the use of PGD for sex selection. The committee
has also maintained a commitment to critical engagement with other
genetic and reproductive technologies.
http://www.cwpe.org/
Marcy Darnovksy, "Designer babies, genetic discrimination, and the
patenting of human life: the perils amidst the promise of the
biotech revolution," a presentation at the West Harlem Environmental
Action conference on environmental justice, broadcast on
Democracy Now.
http://www.webactive.com/webactive/pacifica/demnow/dn20020206.html
More Information
Analysis:
Examine the social, cultural, and economic landscape
Policies:
Read about existing and potential regulations
Technologies:
Learn the basic science and consider arguments for and against
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