Comments on: Author: ‘Medical genetics is not eugenics’ http://www.patriciaebauer.com/2008/05/15/author-medical-genetics-is-not-eugenics/ Disability News | PatriciaEBauer.com Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:02:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Terri http://www.patriciaebauer.com/2008/05/15/author-medical-genetics-is-not-eugenics/#comment-897 Terri Fri, 16 May 2008 12:07:10 +0000 http://www.patriciaebauer.com/?p=2129#comment-897 The evidence that using genetics to eliminate "devastating diseases" and "overwhelming disabilities" takes us down a slippery slope is shown because the same techniques are being used to eliminate Down syndrome which is NEITHER. Eliminating most of a population does endanger everyone who is left and this is demonstrated with thalassemia (and any other condition that gets eliminated pre-birth) because the efforts toward cure, effective treatment and amelioration of symptoms slows to a standstill -- the money gets spent on elimination rather than research (and all of the information learned during the research that would benefit other conditions/diseases is also prevented.) What if the physicians that got to Cyprus first were outstanding hematologists instead of geneticists? Would the world have advanced in the understanding and treatment of blood disorders and dyscrasias? Instead we study the effects of eliminating certain people on an island .... which, frankly, we could learn watching Survivor. Yuck. The evidence that using genetics to eliminate “devastating diseases” and “overwhelming disabilities” takes us down a slippery slope is shown because the same techniques are being used to eliminate Down syndrome which is NEITHER.

Eliminating most of a population does endanger everyone who is left and this is demonstrated with thalassemia (and any other condition that gets eliminated pre-birth) because the efforts toward cure, effective treatment and amelioration of symptoms slows to a standstill — the money gets spent on elimination rather than research (and all of the information learned during the research that would benefit other conditions/diseases is also prevented.)

What if the physicians that got to Cyprus first were outstanding hematologists instead of geneticists? Would the world have advanced in the understanding and treatment of blood disorders and dyscrasias? Instead we study the effects of eliminating certain people on an island …. which, frankly, we could learn watching Survivor. Yuck.

]]> By: Nancy Iannone http://www.patriciaebauer.com/2008/05/15/author-medical-genetics-is-not-eugenics/#comment-895 Nancy Iannone Thu, 15 May 2008 21:57:59 +0000 http://www.patriciaebauer.com/?p=2129#comment-895 University of Pennsylvania, huh? They diagnosed my child, offered me an abortion several times, and gave me NO information about Down syndrome. But it’s not eugenics. Right. I guess I should have told them in advance that I would not terminate. Oh, wait, I did that. Maybe I should have been clear and firm. Oh, wait, I was. You can all it whatever you want -- politically right, moral, whatever - but so long as disabilities are misunderstood, inaccurate or little information is given, and termination is pushed -- it is a specific targeting of a population for elimination. University of Pennsylvania, huh? They diagnosed my child, offered me an abortion several times, and gave me NO information about Down syndrome. But it’s not eugenics. Right. I guess I should have told them in advance that I would not terminate. Oh, wait, I did that. Maybe I should have been clear and firm. Oh, wait, I was.

You can all it whatever you want — politically right, moral, whatever - but so long as disabilities are misunderstood, inaccurate or little information is given, and termination is pushed — it is a specific targeting of a population for elimination.

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