User:Tbreed2/Eugenics in the United States

Annabel’s Edits


 * History
 * Early Components
 * After the 3rd sentence: “He suggested in order to promote selective breeding that monetary incentives be provided to fit individuals that get married.”
 * Citation: Galton F. London: Macmillan and Co.; 1883. Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development.

From Farber, S. (2008, December 01). U.S. scientists' role in the eugenics Movement (1907–1939): A CONTEMPORARY Biologist's Perspective. Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2757926/


 * New Section: Reminisce of the Eugenics Movement Today
 * “While frequently the eugenics movement is dismissed as a thing of the past, remnants of eugenics are often reflected in many modern day movements. One movement that typically reflects the ideas represented in eugenics surrounds climate change. As this issue has gained momentum, the discussion of limiting population growth in order to save the planet has risen in popularity [1]. While rooted in the idea that limiting population growth and reproduction rates decreases consumption, poverty, and overcrowding, this movement usually results in those deemed “unfit” becoming the first targets of these issues [1]. “
 * New Subsection: Leadership ties to Eugenics
 * “Specifically in the United States, the eugenics movement might seem like a hushed movement of the past. However, it was actually openly supported by many leaders. This includes many presidents such as Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt [11,12]. As governor of New Jersey, Wilson legislated a eugenics based bill in 1911 that forced criminals or “feeble-minded” adults to be sterilized [13,14]. Roosevelt advocated for similar policy and publically vocalized his fear that if these actions were not taken, the human race would detoriorate, commiting “race suicide” [15-17]. Even more recently, President Richard Nixon and Vice President Al Gore, have been associated with the issue [1]. In fact, the Nixon administration targeted low-income and minority communities through an increase in Medicaid-funded sterilizations, which was only one example of the sterilization abuse that occurred during Nixon’s presidency [3]. While the former Vice President did not directly support eugenics policy, Al Gore had made comments connected to limiting populations in only developing countries, similar to the ideas supported by Zero Population Growth [18]. Continuing to arise in modern politics, these ideas have influenced some of President Donald Trump’s policies [1].”


 * New Subsection: Zero Population Growth
 * “Zero population growth (ZPG) refers to a demographic population that is neither growing or declining [2]. The biologist and founder, Paul Ehrlich, started this movement with the intentions of teaching family planning and importance of limiting population size to Americans in order to support the health of the environment and quality of life [1]. With such a multifaceted issue, the organization began to endorse outreach into other issues including poverty, overcrowding, and pollution. However, with this shift in focus, it might seem that a logical approach would be to direct this effort towards populations that have higher resource usage rates, which are typically in high-income, majority white cities in the United States. Instead, their work had begun to target poorer cities composed of mostly minority populations despite having substantially less environmental impacts [1].

This movement continued to support eugenics based principles largely due to a member, John Tanton. Tanton advanced his platform of population control through a “us” versus “them” mentality [1]. This mentality is based around the psychological need to identify with a group, which can create aggression between differing groups [6]. Under Tanton, this continued to foster racism and bigotry as poorer communities of color were blamed and targeted for the issues associated with the agenda of zero population growth [1]. In fact, John Tanton and similar members have paved the way for the anti-immigrant and nationalist politics of the Trump administration, further inciting more harm on minority populations [1].

Despite this, the movement may be able to steer away from the ideas of the eugenics movement and refocus towards reproductive justice approaches to population control through transparency, providing resources, and offering choices for reproduction [1].”


 * New Section: The Future of Eugenics: Human Enhancement
 * “As the scientific field is ever growing, technology has been developed that makes the possibility of human enhancement realistic. Human enhancement is any technology that improves upon natural human abilities [4]. Supporters of human enhancement claim that it is within the parents moral duty to produce the best children possible [5]. The main concern with this topic in regards to eugenics is genetic modification, specifically in embryos [5,7]. This technology has the ability to treat genetic disease before birth, essentially editing the genes deemed harmful or unwanted [5,8]. While this modern eugenics movement is backed by science, critics also note that the United States eugenics movement was also deemed to be supported by Charles Darwin’s science at the time [5]. Additionally, they comment on its basis in the support of superior individuals and the elimination of those considered inferior, with little to no concern for the life of those that do not meet the criteria [5]. There is concern about who this movement will determine as superior and inferior. While currently genetic modification has been targeted towards medical issues, it has a high price tag, limiting its availability to those from lower income populations [9]. In the United States, demographics reflected a higher percentage of Black and Hispanic individuals in poverty compared to Non-Hispanic White individuals [10]. In turn, the human enhancement movement may have the intentions of bettering life on an individual basis, but it could quickly turn against low-income, minority populations, similar to the previous eugenics movement in the United States [5].

References


 * 1) Fendley, C. (2020, February 17). Perspective | eugenics is trending. that's a problem. Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/17/eugenics-is-trending-thats-problem/
 * 2) Lindsey Bailey | May 6, 2. (2019, August 16). What is zero population growth, or ZPG? Retrieved March 04, 2021, from https://populationeducation.org/what-zero-population-growth-or-zpg/#:~:text=Zero%20population%20growth%20refers%20to,is%20not%20always%20the%20case.
 * 3) Raterman, E. (2019, March 29). Tracing the history of forced sterilization within the United States. Retrieved March 04, 2021, from http://www.healthlawpolicy.org/tracing-the-history-of-forced-sterilization-within-the-united-states/
 * 4) Human enhancement. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2021, from https://www.sienna-project.eu/enhancement/
 * 5) Vizcarrondo, F. (2014, August). Human enhancement: The new eugenics. Retrieved March 04, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4135459/
 * 6) The us vs. them mentality: How group thinking can irrationally divide us. (2020, December 08). Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.theemotionmachine.com/the-us-vs-them-mentality-how-group-thinking-can-irrationally-divide-us/#:~:text=Them%20Mentality%3A%20How%20Group%20Thinking%20Can%20Irrationally%20Divide%20Us,-by%20Steven%20Handel&text=Them%E2%80%9D%20mentality%20toward%20people%20who,%2C%20religion%2C%20or%20socioeconomic%20status.
 * 7) Masci, D. (2020, August 20). Human enhancement: Scientific and ethical dimensions of genetic ENGINEERING, brain chips and synthetic blood. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2016/07/26/human-enhancement-the-scientific-and-ethical-dimensions-of-striving-for-perfection/
 * 8) Dresser, R. (2004). Genetic modification of preimplantation embryos: Toward adequate human research policies. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690208/
 * 9) Playing with genes: The good, the bad and the ugly. (2019). Frontier Technology Quarterly, (2), 1-6.
 * 10) Bureau, U. (2020, September 15). Poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics reached historic lows in 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/poverty-rates-for-blacks-and-hispanics-reached-historic-lows-in-2019.html
 * 11) Ball, N. (2013, September 14). Roosevelt, Theodore. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/tree/531f81aa132156674b000209
 * 12) Ball, N. (2014, March 11). Wilson, Woodrow. Retrieved April 7, 2021, from http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/tree/531f81aa132156674b000209
 * 13) Trent, J. W. (1995). Inventing the feeble mind: A history of mental retardation in the United States (Vol. 6). CA: University of California Press.
 * 14) Lombardo, P. A. (2002). Taking Eugenics Seriously: Three Generations of-Are Enough. Florida State University Law Review, 30, 191.
 * 15) Dyer, T. G. (1992). Theodore Roosevelt and the idea of race. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press.
 * 16) Larson, E. J. (1991). Belated progress: The enactment of eugenic legislation in Georgia. Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences, 46(1), 44-64.
 * 17) Roosevelt, T., & Hagedorn, H. (1914). Twisted eugenics. The Outlook, 106, 30-34.
 * 18) Peyser, A. (2011, August 11). Gore goes @#$% nuts! Retrieved April 07, 2021, from https://nypost.com/2011/08/11/gore-goes-nuts/