title: In Genes We Trust: Germline Engineering, Eugenics, and the Future of the Human Genome.
abstract: Liberal proponents of genetic engineering maintain that developing human germline modification technologies is morally desirable because it will result in a net improvement in human health and well-being. Skeptics of germline modification, in contrast, fear evolutionary harms that could flow from intervening in the human germline, and worry that such programs, even if well intentioned, could lead to a recapitulation of the scientifically and morally discredited projects of the old eugenics. Some bioconservatives have appealed as well to the value of retaining our "given" human biological nature as a reason for restraining the development and use of human genetic modification technologies even where they would tend to increase well-being. In this article, I argue that germline intervention will be necessary merely to sustain the levels of genetic health that we presently enjoy for future generations-a goal that should appeal to bioliberals and bioconservatives alike. This is due to the population-genetic consequences of relaxed selection pressures in human populations caused by the increasing efficacy and availability of conventional medicine. This heterodox conclusion, which I present as a problem of intergenerational justice, has been overlooked in medicine and bioethics due to certain misconceptions about human evolution, which I attempt to rectify, as well as the sordid history of Darwinian approaches to medicine and social policy, which I distinguish from the present argument.
authors.affiliation: Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA powell@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Powell
mesh_terms: D005053:Eugenics; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000941:ethics*; D024861:Genetic Enhancement / Q000941:ethics*; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000941:ethics*; D016045:Human Genome Project; D006801:Humans; D028681:Moral Obligations; D012922:Social Change; D012941:Social Responsibility
keywords: disease; eugenics; evolution; genetic engineering; germline; justice; selection