Fed: Bioethicist warns of "eugenic" drift

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2001
Fed: Bioethicist warns of "eugenic" drift

A leading British activist and academic says advances in genetic science could lead
to a new eugenics in which disabled people are weeded from society.

Doctor TOM SHAKESPEARE, from the genetics institute of the United Kingdom's University
of Newcastle, says there's a danger in scientists trying to improve people rather than
just cure them.

He says he's not trying to scaremonger but is pointing to the fact that we're entering
a new age with new choices.

Dr SHAKESPEARE, who will tomorrow address the international Disability with Attitude
conference in Sydney, says the ability of individuals to exercise control over genetic
knowledge is at issue.

He says some UK women come under pressure to terminate pregnancies on the basis of
prenatal testing, and in the US there's concern health insurers may deny cover to people
who refuse to abort.

Dr SHAKESPEARE says disabled people are concerned that the ultimate goal of some scientists
is to eliminate impairment.





The discredited science of eugenics, which surfaced early in the 20th century and was
promoted by the Nazis, involves attempts to "improve" the human race through genetic selection
of people with desired racial and intellectual qualities.

AAP RTV rr/sc/hn/jn

KEYWORD: EUGENIC (BRISBANE)

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