"Liberal" Eugenics
A dangerous fiction
Two articles from The Atlantic magazine caught my attention: the first, “Genetic Discrimination is Coming for Us All,” describes how insurance companies can deny insurance should they have a mutation that puts them at risk for a serious disease. The article tells the story of a healthy 60-year-old man who is still physically active. A DNA test he took because his father and grandfather both had ALS showed he had a mutation that a recent study showed that he had about a 25 percent chance of developing ALS. He was denied long-term care insurance as a result.
This was the fear of many when great attention was given to genetics upon the completion of the Human Genome Project, which sequenced the human genome. It now has come to pass.
When scientists first mapped the human genome, it was thought most diseases would be connected to individual genes. Although we now know that the relationships of disease to one’s genes is very complex, the threat of genetic discrimination loomed large. Consequently, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was passed and enacted in 2008. However, as the second article from The Atlantic, “The Loophole,” points out, lawmakers carved out exceptions. Insurers who offered long-term care, life, or disability insurance were allowed to take DNA into account. Therefore, the ability of the insurance company to deny coverage to a man who had a 25% greater chance of getting ALS was perfectly legal.
As serious as this is, it is part of a larger picture of placing too much emphasis on genetic information. An article in The Linacre Quarterly, “Human enhancement: The new eugenics,” describes what is called the “new eugenics” or “liberal eugenics.” Quoting from the paper's abstract: “The new eugenics, although based on science, continues to pursue the same goal as the old genetics, the development of a superior individual and the elimination of those considered inferior.” Further: “The arguments in support of human enhancement are based on an ethic of consequence that could allow. For nearly any means as long as the desired end is reached.”
This is a time when the President-elect has stated that Democrats would bring “who knows into your suburbs” and has praised people in Minnesota for having good genes by saying: “You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it? The racehorse theory?” This relates to the belief of eugenicists one hundred years ago “…that a study of thoroughbred horse breeding would yield findings that could be applied to humans to produce what one eugenicist called a ‘highly gifted race of men.’ “ He has also talked about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of Americans, a frightening throwback to a previous era.
This is dangerous stuff. We must be exceptionally watchful.
Why doesn't this count as a prior condition?
Thank you! For this shocking news’