From the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

An exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota examines the eugenics movement implemented by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, and the role that scientists played in legitimizing and implementing policies aimed at changing the genetic makeup of the population. The exhibit points out the parallels with activities in the United States and elsewhere.

Eugenics is the belief that the human species could be improved by discouraging or stopping reproduction by people with genetic defects or undesirable traits and encouraging reproduction among those believed to have desirable, inheritable traits. It was carried out to its most horrifying extremes in Nazi Germany.

The theory also was promoted and practiced in places beyond Germany, including the United States and Minnesota.

… In Minnesota, a 1925 law paved the way for the sterilization of more than 1,200 “feeble-minded” or insane patients at the state hospital in Faribault, according to Neal Holtan, a medical historian and medical director of the St. Paul-Ramsey County Public Health Department.

… Experts said the exhibit raises questions about present-day concerns over the intersection of science and politics, the rights of individuals versus the larger population and 21st century eugenics.

“We have the human genome. As soon as we start passing judgment on what are good genes or bad genes, it’s going to start all over again,” said Holtan.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 10:44 pm and is filed under eugenics, history, medicine, sterilization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post