Eugenics Argumentative Essay

Eugenics is it a Positive or Negative?
Eugenics is a term coined in 1883, influenced by a “survival of the fittest” mindset that Social Darwinism gave and brought into the mainstream medicine of the 1900’s. Keep in mind “eugenics” is actually the scientific term for the adjustment of genes or genetic modification. Eugenics when first presented is a rather sensitive topic, as this practice though heavily criticized, mainly due to the Nazis using it to support their “final solution.” It has also come under scrutiny of oppressing minorities and supporting America’s “Nordic” society, however it has some primarily positive impacts on society. For example, in the early 1900’s a common practice of the eugenics mindset was sterilization. This led to
Since in some case mental illness is passed on by hereditary means, the practice of eugenics could lead to a decrease in such illnesses such as bipolar disorder, ADHD, autism, depression, and schizophrenia. This is only applicable in some cases however. This process of eugenics is not limited to mental illness or criminal actions. Those found with alcoholism or drug abuse in the family would be sterilized, even those with genetic diseases would be sterilized, thus helping humanity to eliminate the threat of this negative behavior continuing in the human gene pool.
Though having given the definition of eugenics, that doesn’t really explain what eugenics is, or rather the scientific practice of eugenics is. It is the removal of all “unfit” genes or traits which are believed to be harmful to the next generation. As stated by Harvard biologist William E. Castle, A.B. 1893, Ph.D. ’95 “... his colleges wanted to root out such negative human characteristics as alcoholism, feeblemindedness, criminality and other traits then considered heritable” (Mendelsohn 1). This was all related with the desire to better the human race as a whole. This belief in gene modification, though clearly not a new scientific belief as we see evidence of eugenic as early as the
Hereditary disease is sadly a common thing whether a life effecting disabilities like in this instance, or just a higher change of infection of a certain disease. No one person is at fault or to blame for this as it is just a mutation in the genes. However the Meagu family decided to “[go to]... a clinic in London which could screen out disease… They [would] compare the gene sequences at 300,000 different points of the chromosomes to work out which section of genetic code was defective and responsible for the abnormality” (Knapton 2). This is eugenics at its finest as it is in what seems to be complete correlation to that scientific aspiration for, “a movement that [seeks] to identify people with “’inferior’” traits as a first step toward purifying the gene pool” (Savo 1). This willingness to prevent harmful genes from being passed onto future generations is displayed in this shocking example, “A state rub hospital sterilized 26 patients – almost all of them 14 and 15 year old boys – by cutting off their testicles because they were epileptics or showed signs of being kleptomanias or “in poor moral condition” (Savo