Unfortunately, the drive to restrict reproduction to those deemed by some to be the most “suitable” still exists.

“Today’s casual insults such as ‘imbecile’, ‘moron’ or ‘idiot’ carried specific psychiatric significance a century ago, and… could warrant enforced institutionalisation and, in hundreds of thousands of cases, involuntary sterilisation,” writes Rutherford. Some of the language and phrases of the 20th-century eugenics movement remain in general use today, although their meanings have evolved. Eugenics formed the basis for the modern field of human genetics, with many eugenicists rebranding themselves as geneticists after the second world war, he argues. Plato’s plan was never enacted, he adds, but infanticide has been a constant feature in human societies throughout history and around the world.Įugenics became a dirty word after the horrors of the 20th century, yet some of its ideas survived in science and medicine, says Rutherford. “Children born with defects would be hidden away, which may well have been a euphemism for killed,” writes Rutherford. In fact, as Rutherford points out, notions of eugenics and population control date back much further in human society to the 4th century BC, when the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato outlined in books V and VI of Republic a detailed plan to control the reproduction of the people in a utopian city-state. More than 30 countries, including Germany and the US, had formal eugenics policies in the 20th century, with awful consequences. In fact, writes geneticist Adam Rutherford in his new book Control, “the idea persisted – and persists”.Įugenics didn’t begin with Francis Galton either, even though he coined the term in the 1800s and was responsible for spreading the idea around the world. But eugenics didn’t begin or end with the Nazis. WHAT does the word “ eugenics” bring to mind? For many, it is Nazi Germany and the atrocities that were committed in its name, not least the murder and involuntary sterilisation of people that they deemed unworthy of reproducing.

Control by adam rutherford