Description
Book SynopsisWhat will it mean for society if science enables us to choose a future child whose health, athletic ability or intelligence is predetermined? This future is becoming ever more likely with the latest developments in human reproduction -- but concerns are growing about the implications. New procedures making possible heritable genetic modifications such as genome editing open the door to ‘sanitized’ selective eugenics; but these practices have some unnerving similarities to the discredited eugenic programmes of early twentieth-century regimes. A Christian perspective based on Scripture gives us the resources we urgently need to evaluate both current and future selection practices. Calum MacKellar offers an accessible, inter-disciplinary analysis, blending science, history and Christian theology. This book will enable you to become fully informed about the new scientific developments in human reproduction – developments that will affect us all.
Trade ReviewMost people will be totally unaware of the dark legacy of eugenics in the UK, let alone in the rest of Europe and the US. MacKellar is probably the world’s most clear-sighted Christian exponent of this history and its modern counterpart – the new eugenics. It presents its apparently benign face throughout the National Health Service in the UK, but beneath the surface are issues that all of us need to know about. This book is a lucid, balanced and unique guide to help discern the truly therapeutic from the eugenic. * Trevor Stammers, Associate Professor and Director, Centre fo Bioethics and Emerging Technologies, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London *
