Eugenics presentation farees mufti

04/13/23 Bioethics: Eugenics 1

"In the name of ALLAH, most Gracious, most Compassionate"."In the name of ALLAH, most Gracious, most Compassionate".


EUGENICS, ITS ETHICAL ISSUES & EUGENICS, ITS ETHICAL ISSUES & EUGENICS IN RELIGIONSEUGENICS IN RELIGIONS

SpeakerFAREES UD DIN MUFTI


Goals of Stage “EUGENICS”Goals of Stage “EUGENICS”

Definition Background Introduction Categories History Ethical Issues Eugenics Thought in Religions

– Judaism– Christianity– Islam


Definition of EugenicsDefinition of Eugenics

“A science that deals with the improvement of races or breeds (especially by the control of human mating) of hereditary qualities”.

“It is the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population by selective breeding”.

OR


BackgroundBackground

– Eugenics is for the improvement of the human genetic specification.

– For control of genetic configuration.

– It is not a political tool for shaping human culture.

– It is a science. It produces real knowledge. It can be measured. It can be verified. It must have a desirable net effect and implemented.

– The fact is that evolution is primarily an individual process.

– Farmers learned to bred animal of desired trait in isolation rather than in herd.


IntroductionIntroduction The term eugenics refers to the science of heredity and good breeding.

Literally, means "well-born“.

Word Eugenics was coined in 1883 by Fancis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, to refer to the study and use of selective breeding (of animals or

humans) to improve a species over generations.

It is sometimes broadly applied to describe any human action whose goal is to improve the gene pool.

Some forms of infanticide in ancient societies, present-day reprogenetics, preemptive abortions and designer babies sometimes referred to as eugenic.


Eugenics is also concerned with the elimination of hereditary diseases such as Hemophilia and Huntington’s disease etc.

But the problem is of labelling genetic defect.

What appears to be a genetic defect in one context or environment may not be so in another.

Although some birth defects are uniformly lethal, disabled persons can succeed in life.


CATEGORIES OF EUGENICSCATEGORIES OF EUGENICS

It is mainly divided into two categories.

Positive eugenics i.e. Superior is aimed at producing most fit individuals to reproduce encouraging reproduction among the genetically advantaged .

Negative eugenics i.e. Inferior is aimed at producing less fit individuals from reproducing lowering fertility among the genetically disadvantaged.


HistoryHistory

In 1798, an English economist Thomas Robert Malthus argued that;

“Population increases exponentially and will therefore eventually outstrip food supply. If parents failed to limit the size of their families”.

The island of Britain could not sustain a population of 20 million, but 150 years later the population was more than triple Malthus' ceiling.


Charles Darwin, the biologist, was immensely impressed by Malthus' ideas, and thus used his ideas in biology.

Galton used statistical methods, including "bell curve," to describe the distribution of intelligence within a population.

He devised method for measuring intelligence, and concluded that Europeans are smarter than Africans, on average.

Two million years ago probably first was the dog, used for hunting, defense, a warning system against predators and as a loyal companion. It was obvious from the beginning that if a best dog was needed, it did not come from a small bitch and sire. Thus discovered that best dogs comes from best parents.


The same characteristics in humans. The big strong man with the big strong mate had big strong sons and daughters.

Proper Eugenics began in half of the nineteenth century primarily due to the efforts of Thomas Malthus,.

Their primary effort was directed toward the criminal, mentally ill and lower classes, especially those on welfare.

Galton described his study of upper class families in which he observed the qualities of intellect. leadership and artistic ability. He professed to show differences of upper class.


ETHICAL ISSUESETHICAL ISSUES

Some ethicist suggest that even non-persuading eugenic programs would be inherently unethical.

In new eugenics that will come from reproductive technologies that will allow parents to create “designer babies" (which biologist Lee M. Silver prominently called “reprogenetics").

There will be issue motivated by individual competitiveness and the desire to create the best opportunities for children, rather than an urge to improve the specie.

A hypothetical scenario tells that if one racial minority group is on average less intelligent than the racial majority group, then the racial minority group will be submitted to a eugenics program.


Eugenics helps to prevent fertility or promote it, to enhance muscle and mental performance, to replace body parts and to prolong life expectancy.

Along with these powers come the threat of dehumanization and the potential of super-humanization. Kass expressed concern about “usurping God-like powers, but doing so in the absence of God-like knowledge.”...”

Health issues relate to safety and bodily harm. “Anything powerful enough to enhance system A is likely to be powerful enough to harm system B”.

Equality and fairness of distribution are additional concerns. One who is not getting the benefits may feels odd against the other.


Similarly when parents (or social planners) deliberately choose to develop a child with particular disabilities that they consider useful.

For Example: A lesbian couple recently gave birth to two children, now ages 2 and 7, who were ‘planned’ to be deaf because both of their mothers are deaf. Both mothers see their impairment as a ‘cultural identity’ rather than a disability.

There is no detectable correlation between human construction and human behavior. Many have tried various means such as: shape of the skull, color of skin, lines on the palm of the hand, astrological sign, economic class, IQ tests, conduct, etc. Every attempt leads to as many failures as successes.


Eugenics in JudaismEugenics in Judaism

It is thought that Eugenics implementation is allowed in Judaism after the stepping of Nazi Hitlerian era.

It is prohibited in Jewish law to marry a woman from a family of epileptics or lepers lest illness i.e. genetically transmitted to future generations.

On the basis of the higher frequency of defective births resulting from marriages of blood relatives, Rabbi Judah the Pious, in his Ethical will, prohibited marriages between first cousins and between uncles and nieces.


In a moral teaching of Judaism the Talmud states in Niddah that, three partners involved in the creation of a human being:

1. The father provides the white (sperm) from which are derived

the child's bones and sinews, his nails, the marrow in the head (brain) and the white of the eye.

2. The mother provides the red (menstrual blood) from which are derived skin and flesh and blood and hair and the black of the eye.

3. God gives the spirit and the soul, beauty of features, sight of the eyes, hearing of the ears, speech of the mouth, the ability to move the hands and walk with the feet, understanding and discernment


Eugenics is permissible in Judaism when used for the treatment, cure, or prevention of disease.

Such genetic manipulation is not considered to be a violation of God's natural law but a legitimate implementation of the biblical mandate to heal.

If Tay Sachs disease, diabetes, hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease or other genetic diseases can be cured or prevented by gene surgery, it is certainly halachically permitted.

Eugenics In Judaism: Conclusion Eugenics In Judaism: Conclusion


EUGENICS IN CHRISTIANITYEUGENICS IN CHRISTIANITY

In Christianity today, Amy Laura Hall has written an interesting article titled “For Shame? Why Christians should welcome, rather than stigmatize, the favor of one trait in eugenics.

Indeed, the author of Fewer and Better Babies anticipated that working-class parents who produced more than two children would eventually be considered “anti-social, as criminal members of the community.”


Christian doctrine stress on the equality of individuals both from heavenly and earthly powers, for the Christian assessment of each individual values.

Eugenics In Christianity: Conclusion

During the last century many Protestant leaders, committed to the eugenics movement, deemed that, which births were with the grain of God’s plan for the evolving progress of human history and which births were a drag on the movement forward.

Christians are called to more humility and more confidence than that—more humility about harm that has been done in the name of social progress, and more confidence in God’s ability to turn even regrettable human choices to good.


ISLAM & EUGENICS (ISLAM & EUGENICS ( نوع اصالح نوع علم اصالح علم ( (انسانیانسانی

Islam is a religion of principles, guidance for whole mankind, complete way of life, providing success in all walks of life and its message is universal and eternal.

In the Quran Allah says:

" This day have I perfected you your way of life, and have completed my blessing on you, and have chosen for you Islam as a way of life."(5:3).


Islam is not in agreement with “designer babies” or ‘transgenic man’. The issue of ‘playing God’ and altering creation through eugenics or gene therapy.

Sex selection is not acceptable except for medical reasons in gender related disease.

However some jurisits permitted gene manipulations for if an abnormality accompanied with physical or psychological harms, skin color change, intelligence improvement.

Surgeries to treat congenital or acquired deformities to restore normal shape or function of an organ are also permissible.


In holy Qur’an, “Oh mankind we created you from a single male and a female,

and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other”. 49/13.

If deformed child is born to Muslims, Islam tells the parents to wholeheartedly accept it with love and affection.

We believe it is not a result of an "accident" but parents should sprinkle to deformed child as it ranks Martyridm.

In the Quran Allah warns " Kill not your children, on a plea of want, We provide

sustenance for you and for them".


Islamically, we believe that the devil, who had taken a solemn pledge to Allah when expelled from paradise that he would change the creation of Allah and his appointed things

as the Quran states:

"… And I would instruct them that they should alter the creation of Allah…"

So Muslims are firmly warned against such delusions and deception.


Islam permits prenatal diagnoses as good only if it's used to treat the fetus, against risks and for benefits.

However as we see prenatal diagnosis most often used for killing, it can be used to see if the child carries any deformities but the procedure can't result in killing it or destroying the embryo or the fetus.

Parents should accept a deformed child with love and affection, not with discontent.

Allah is the creator of all life, from it's beginning to its end.

Eugenics In Islam: ConclusionEugenics In Islam: Conclusion


The Holy Quran states: "… their (good) deeds are like a glittering sand in a plain,

which a thirsty person thinks to be water (like a mirage). But when he (the thirsty one) reaches it, he finds it to be nothing… .".

So as a Muslim we should follow Islamic teachings and deny eugenics or any other biotechnical way if it is opposing Islam.


Thank You..

Eugenics presentation farees mufti

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