Chinese geneticists' views of ethical issues in genetic testing and screening: evidence for eugenics in China.
To identify Chinese geneticists' views of ethical issues in genetic testing and screening, a national survey was conducted. Of 402 Chinese geneticists asked to participate, 255 (63%) returned by mail anonymous questionnaires. The majority of respondents thought that genetic testing should be offered in the workplace for alpha-antitrypsin deficiency (95%) and the predisposition of executives to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes (94%); that genetic testing should be included in preemployment physical examinations (86%); that governments should require premarital carrier tests (86%), newborn screening for sickle cell (77%), and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (71%); and that children should be tested for genes for late-onset disorders such as Huntington disease (85%), susceptibility to cancers (85%), familial hypercholesterolemia (84%), alcoholism (69%), and Alzheimer disease (61%). Most believed that partners should know each other's genetic status before marriage (92%), that carriers of the same defective gene should not mate with each other (91%), and that women should have a prenatal diagnosis if medically indicated (91%). The majority said that in China decisions about family planning were shared by the couple (82%). More than half had views that, in China, there were no laws to prohibit disability discrimination (64%), particularly to protect people with adult polycystic kidney disease (57%), cystic fibrosis (56%), or genetic predisposition to other diseases (50%). To some extent, these results might provide a basis for a discussion of eugenics in China, particularly about China's Maternal and Infant Health Care Law (1994).
Division of Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, West China University of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China. xin@icr.ac.uk
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D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002681:China; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000235:genetics; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004651:Employment; D004995:Ethics, Professional; D005053:Eugenics; D005260:Female; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000235:genetics*; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000592:standards*; D005823:Genetics; D005826:Genetics, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce