| Description |
292 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
| Contents |
Beautiful inheritance : the many faces of eugenics -- A genealogical fallacy : the many faces of genetics -- The patient greatly wants to have children : the pronatalism of prenatal diagnosis -- No matter what! This has to stop! : communities that have accepted genetic screening -- Genetics and genocide : African American communities and sickle cell disease -- We have a very pragmatic church : mandating genetic screening on Cyprus |
| Summary |
"As Ruth Schwartz Cowan reveals, modern genetic screening has been practiced since 1960, benefiting millions of women and children all over the world. She persuasively argues that new forms of screening - prenatal, newborn, and carrier testing - are both morally right and politically acceptable. Medical genetics, built on the desire of parents and physicians to reduce suffering and increase personal freedom, not on the desire to "improve the human race," is in fact an entirely different enterprise from eugenics." "Cowan's narrative moves from an account of the interwoven histories of genetics and eugenics in the first half of the twentieth century, to the development of new forms of genetic screening after mid-century. It includes illuminating chapters on the often misunderstood testing programs for sickle cell anemia, and on the world's only mandated premarital screening programs, both of them on the island of Cyprus."--BOOK JACKET |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-276) and index |
| Subject |
Genetic screening -- History.
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Eugenics -- History.
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Genetic Testing -- history.
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Eugenics -- history.
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History, 20th Century.
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| LC no. |
2007039201 |
| ISBN |
9780674024243 : |
|
0674024249 : |
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