Eugenics is a movement aimed at improving the genetic composition of the human race, historically advocating selective breeding, while modern technologies allow for direct genetic alterations. The eugenics movement began in the late 19th century, marked by the establishment of the Eugenics Records Office, which associated undesirable traits with genetics rather than socioeconomic factors. Sterilization programs targeting deemed 'unfit' individuals affected around 65,000 Americans and raised ethical concerns about consent, contrasting with today's voluntary genetic testing practices.

1. EUGENICS
PRESENTED BY:
Mr. Dinabandhu Barad
MSC TUTOR, SNC, SOA DTU

3. INTRODUCTION TO
EUGENICS
• Eugenics is a movement that is aimed at improving the genetic
composition of the human race.
• Historically, eugenicists advocated selective breeding to achieve these
goals.
• Today we have technologies that make it possible to more directly alter the
genetic composition of an individual. However, people differ in their views
on how to best (and ethically) use this technology.

4. EUGENICS MOVEMENT
• In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, a respected British scholar and cousin of
Charles Darwin, first used the term eugenics, meaning “well-born.”
• Galton believed that the human race could help direct its future by
selectively breeding individuals who have “desired” traits.

5. • The eugenics movement began in the U.S. in the late 19th century.
• However, unlike in Britain, eugenicists in the U.S. focused on efforts to stop
the transmission of negative or “undesirable” traits from generation to
generation.
• In response to these ideas, some US leaders, private citizens, and
corporations started funding eugenical studies.
EUGENICS MOVEMENT

6. • This lead to the 1911 establishment of The Eugenics Records Office (ERO)
in Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
• The ERO spent time tracking family histories and concluded that people
deemed to be unfit more often came from families that were poor, low in
social standing, immigrant, and/or minority.
• Further, ERO researchers “demonstrated” that the undesirable traits in
these families, such as POVERTY, were due to genetics, and not lack of
resources.
EUGENICS MOVEMENT

7. • Committees were convened to offer solutions to the problem of the
growing number of “undesirables” in the U.S. population.
• Stricter immigration rules were enacted, but the most frightening
resolution was a plan to sterilize “unfit” individuals to prevent them from
passing on their negative traits.
• During the 20th century, a total of 33 states had sterilization programs in
place.
EUGENICS MOVEMENT

8. • While at first sterilization efforts targeted mentally ill people exclusively,
later the traits deemed serious enough to warrant sterilization included
alcoholism, criminality chronic poverty, blindness, deafness, feeble-
mindedness, and promiscuity.
• It was also not uncommon for African American women to be sterilized
during other medical procedures without consent.
EUGENICS MOVEMENT

9. • Most people subjected to these sterilizations had no choice, and because
the program was run by the government, they had little chance of escaping
the procedure.
• It is thought that around 65,000 Americans were sterilized during this time
period.
EUGENICS MOVEMENT

10. • The most significant difference between modern genetic technologies, that
some view as eugenic, and the historical use of eugenics is consent.
• Today, individuals pursue genetic testing by choice. An individual can
never be forced into testing or be required to take action, such as
sterilization, based on the results of a genetic test.
• Individuals differ in their views on genetic testing in relation to
reproductive decision-making and possible eugenic motivations, but at
least today parents have the choice to use the technology or not.
EUGENICS MOVEMENT

11. THANK YOU