Eugenics and CRISPR Flashcards
What is eugenics?
19th century science that uses self direction of human evolution
What does phrenology do?
Determine characteristics of our fellow human beings. Noted as a pseudoscience. Extrapolated physical aspects of a human to represent something of intelligence, character, and morality.
What did phrenology lead to?
Offensive stereotypes, racial profiling, anti-semantic depictions, offensive depictions of different races, and people being deemed unmotyerly and unfatherly.
The locations of certain characteristics such as kindness, memory, self esteem, benevolence in the brain is showed in what diagram?
Phrenology bust
Who was interested in mapping his genealogy to trace intelligence, invented the dog whistle, and was interested in fingerprinting?
Francis Galton
What is the Galton-Darwin-Wedgwood Family pedigree?
A group of closely related family stocks characterized by outstanding capacities in philosophy, science, and art.
Was Charles Darwin a healthy intellectual man?
No, although he was able to have children he had digestive and flatulence problems. He was said to be a nervous and sickly man.
Was Galton both physically and mentally superior?
Although he was able to trace back his intelligence, he was unable to reproduce and therefore could not personally test if intelligence was inherited.
The word eugenics is credited to what scientist?
Francis Galton in 1883
What is the meaning of the word eugenics?
Eu= good, well Genics= birth
What are the 5 main reasons that the United States looked towards eugenics?
Immigration- from different backgrounds, bring different diseases, creates job competition
Industrialization- low wages, labor unions, technology progression
Urbanization- increased contact with others, sharing of ideas, creating tension, misunderstandings, prejudice
WW2
Great Depression
What was the positive eugenics movement?
People of “better stock” such as middle or upper-class white woman are encouraged to have many children.
Race Suicide
When “good specimens” do not have many babies. This is considered a crime for not increasing the “great race”.
What president made the Race Suicide speech?
Teddy Roosevelt in 1910
What event was commonly held at local fairs during this time?
Better baby and fitter family competitions. Pedigree charts, intelligence, and morality were all considered.
Negative Eugenics
The discouragement of having more children within category of person that was deemed less desirable.
Bollinger Baby
1915, baby born with severe birth defects and died naturally without medical intervention.
What well known person was a eugenicist and supported Dr. Haiselden’s decision about the baby?
Helen Keller
Medical Classes of Feeble-mindedness
Idiots, Imbeciles, Morons
What class of feeble-mindedness would be considered the most dangerous?
Morons- mental capacity of 10-12 years of age and is able to do work requiring reason and judgment. Had the ability to “pass as normal”.
Who drafted a model law for the sterilization of a certain social class?
Harry Laughlin- epileptic People of this social class included orphans, epileptics, disease ridden people, and people with drinking problems
Buck v. Belle- 1927
17 year old Carrie Buck was raped and had a child out of wedlock. This was used to diagnose Carrie as mentally inferior and she was institutionalized. At 7 months Carrie was diagnosed with Feeble-mindedness. The case made it to the Supreme Court and was considered a fake trial because Carrie’s lawyer was considered a eugenicist.
What was used to justify mass sterilization?
1905- people can be forced to be vaccinated during an epidemic
Who uses the California state law of eugenics as a model for institutionalized sterilization?
Hitler and the Nazis
What became of eugenics after World War 2?
Sterilization became voluntary and eugenics was made with a positive spin
Who was considered undesirable?
The Mentally ill, promiscuous white woman, Native Americans, the disabled, Black Woman, and Asians
Magdrigal v. Quilligan 1978
1960 and 1970s woman that went to give birth came out sterilized and some women signed papers unwillingly during labor.
Cas9
a protein derived from the CRISPR-Cas bacterial immune system and uses an RNA molecule as a guide to find a complementary DNA sequence which will then be cut out. “molecular scissors”
CRISPR
clustered regularly inter spaced short palindromic repeats
RNA
Transcribed from DNA template and is used to direct the synthesis of proteins
Somatic Cells
All cells in multicellular organisms not including germ cells.
Stem Cells
Any cell that has the ability to be specialized.
What id CRISPR used for?
Used to edit genomes which can enhance characteristics, cure diseases, and eliminate disabilities.
How was CRISPR found?
Research on how bacteria fight viral infections.
What makes CRISPR different from other gene editing technologies?
CRISPR is cheaper, easier to use, and programmable.
Central Virginia Training Center or Colony for Epileptic and Feeble minded
Eugenics facility for epileptic and feeble minded people. Institutionalized so that they are not able to procreate. Given tests to determine mental age,
Who looked to see if sterilization in every state was “dead”?
Mark Bond
What state had a sterilization law in place?
West Virginia
Who was Anna Seal?
She was poor and had a bad family living situation, taken away from her home at 7 years old and was sent to a center. She was sterilized without her knowledge.
Which 2 states were the first to give compensation to victims of sterilization?
North Carolina- $50,000
Virginia- $25,000
