[The crispr / cas9 techniques applied to human genetic enhancement: a biotechnological, anthropological-philosophical and legal dialogue]. / Las técnicas crispr/cas9 aplicadas al mejoramiento genético humano: un diálogo biotecnológico, antropológico-filosófico y jurídico.

The CRISPR editing method is revolutionary. This technique opens the possibility of countless operations in the genome of living beings. However, the risks are high and, in some cases, unpredictable. Therefore, based on an anthropology that recognizes the human person with an inherent dignity that includes the body, this article intends to propose bases for a regulation capable of facing the challenge of CRISPR, especially, given the possibility of confusing its therapeutic resource with the eugenics, also before the imminent risk of unleashing unforeseen consequences such as mutations, malformations and side effects that could be devastating for human life.

Race biology.

BACKGROUND: The founders of Hereditas envisioned that race biology would be a major subject that had social applications with utmost importance in the near future. Anthropometrics was in this context understood to be the pure and eugenics the applied science. Sweden had a long tradition in physical anthropometry. Herman Lundborg, member of the advisory board of Hereditas, united the anthropometric and eugenic approaches in a synthesis. He was the first head of the Institute for Race Biology in Sweden. The contents of Hereditas reflect the development of race biology in the Nordic countries. CONCLUSIONS: The initial enthusiasm for applied race biology did not last long. In the 1920's Hereditas carried papers on both physical anthropology and eugenics. Most paper dealt, however, with human genetics without eugenic content. Two papers, published in 1921 and 1939 show how the intellectual climate had changed from positive to negative. Finally only human genetics prevailed as the legitimate study of the human race or humankind. A belated defense of eugenics published in 1951 did not help; geneticists had abandoned anthropometrics for good around the year 1940 and eugenics about a decade later. In spite of that, eugenic legislation was amended astonishingly late, in the 1970's. The development was essentially similar in all Nordic countries.

How We Got to CRISPR: The Dilemma of Being Human.

This article considers the existential and eugenic risks of gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9. It brings forward epistemological and phenomenological questions concerning what CRISPR technology suggests about the limits of being human. By illuminating the paradoxical relationship between our "then self" and "now self," it considers the fragility of our individual and collective future-making endeavors. To do this, the article offers an overview of the existential dilemmas facing modern subjects, a history of eugenics and the ideology of health, a meditation on the limits of human knowledge, and an explication of the cultural work of metaphor. It argues for the benefits of human variation for individuals and communities and concludes by calling for an attitude of humility and restraint to guide the development and implementation of humane technologies rather than genetic manipulation technologies that aim to control future outcomes through present actions.

Optimizing and normalizing the population through hormone therapies in Italian science, c.1926-1950.

This essay explores how hormone treatments were used to optimize and normalize individuals under Italian Fascism. It does so by taking the activities of the Biotypological Orthogenetic Institute - an Italian eugenics and endocrinological centre founded by Nicola Pende in 1926 - as the prime example of a version of eugenics, biotypology, which was based on hormone therapies. This essay first demonstrates that Italian Fascist biopolitics was not only concerned with increasing the size of the Italian population, but also with improving its quality. It suggests that under the Italian Fascist regime hormone therapies became eugenic tools of intervention to improve the Italian race. Second, while Pende's institute purportedly enhanced men and women, its activities show the extent to which the 'techniques of normalization' pursued by the Fascist regime were both systematic and invasive.

Descubrimiento y manipulación de los Genes. Conexión con la Biología y la Medicina / Discovery and handling of Genes. Connetions with Biology and Medicine

En esta revisión se analiza el avance que han experimentado los conocimientos biológicos como consecuencia del descubrimiento y manipulación de los genes, las interacciones de la genética y la medicina, y las perspectivas de la edición genómica

This review analyses the advances of biological knowledge derived from the discovery and handling of genes, the connections between genetics and medicine and the perspectives of genomic editing

Legalised non-consensual sterilisation - eugenics put into practice before 1945, and the aftermath. Part 2: Europe.

This article deals with the nine European nations which legalised non-consensual sterilisation during the interwar years, thus completing the review, the first part of which was published in an earlier issue of this Journal. Like we did for North America, Japan and Mexico, countries concerned are addressed in chronological order, as practices in one of these influenced policies in others, involved later. For each, we assess the continuum of events up to the present time. The Swiss canton of Vaud was the first political entity in Europe to introduce a law on compulsory sterilisation of people with intellectual disability, in 1928. Vaud's sterilisation Act aimed at safeguarding against the abusive performance of these procedures. The purpose of the laws enforced later in eight other European countries (all five Nordic countries; Germany and, after its annexation by the latter, Austria; Estonia) was, on the contrary, to effect the sterilisation of large numbers of people considered a burden to society. Between 1933 and 1939, from 360,000 [corrected] to 400,000 residents (two-thirds of whom were women) were compulsorily sterilised in Nazi Germany. In Sweden, some 32,000 sterilisations carried out between 1935 and 1975 were involuntary. It might have been expected that after the Second World War ended and Nazi legislation was suspended in Germany and Austria, including that regulating coerced sterilisation, these inhuman practices would have been discontinued in all nations concerned; but this happened only decades later. More time still went by before the authorities in certain countries officially acknowledged the human rights violations committed, issued apologies and developed reparation schemes for the victims' benefit.

The Slippery Slope Argument in the Ethical Debate on Genetic Engineering of Humans.

This article applies tools from argumentation theory to slippery slope arguments used in current ethical debates on genetic engineering. Among the tools used are argumentation schemes, value-based argumentation, critical questions, and burden of proof. It is argued that so-called drivers such as social acceptance and rapid technological development are also important factors that need to be taken into account alongside the argumentation scheme. It is shown that the slippery slope argument is basically a reasonable (but defeasible) form of argument, but is often flawed when used in ethical debates because of failures to meet the requirements of its scheme.

El 'rejuvenecimiento' y los inicios de la endocrinología chilena en la década de 1920 / The 'rejuvenation' and beginnings of Chilean endocrinology in the 1920s

El rejuvenecimiento fue un capítulo de la máxima importancia en el desarrollo de la endocrinología a nivel mundial en la década de 1920. Este trabajo explora la recepción de estas técnicas en Chile. Desde finales del siglo XIX, la Revista Médica de Chile incorporó referencias a los experimentos con preparados de glándulas endocrinas que se estaban realizando en Europa en aquel momento. A partir de 1920 se inició una apropiación en Chile de los experimentos del austríaco Eugen Steinach, con figuras destacadas como el profesor italiano Juan Noé Crevani y el joven estudiante chileno Ottmar Wilhelm. Entre 1922 y 1924, Wilhelm desarrolló una serie de experimentos en los cuerpos de perros, toros, cerdos, ratas y pacientes de la Junta de Beneficencia, a través de la llamada operación Steinach, que consistía en la sección del canal eferente de uno de los testículos. La política de patronazgo científico del profesor Noé y la estrategia de sucesión en el campo de Wilhelm, llevaron a este último a ocupar una cátedra en la naciente Escuela de Medicina de la Universidad de Concepción, a la edad de 25 años. Desde esa posición, la figura de Wilhelm fue fundamental en el desarrollo de una línea de investigación endocrinológica que logró posicionar a la Universidad de Concepción como un polo de desarrollo científico, fortalecido con la llegada de otro discípulo de Steinach a Chile, el profesor letón Alejandro Lipschütz (AU)

Rejuvenation was a chapter of critical importance for the worldwide development of endocrinology in the 1920s. This work explores the acceptance of these techniques in Chile. Starting in the late 19th century, the Chilean Medical Journal (Revista Médica de Chile) incorporated references to experiments with endocrine gland preparations that were being conducted in Europe at the time. An appropriation of the experiments by the Austrian Eugen Steinach began in 1920, with prominent figures such as the Italian professor Juan Noe Crevani and the young Chilean student Ottmar Wilhelm. Between 1922 and 1924, Wilhelm developed a series of experiments on dogs, bulls, pigs, rats and Welfare Board patients through the so-called Steinach operation, which consisted of the sectioning of the efferent channel in one of the testicles. Professor Noe’s scientific patronage policy and Wilhelm’s strategy of succession in the field led the latter to hold a chair in the new School of Medicine of Universidad de Concepción at the age of 25. From this position, the figure of Wilhelm was fundamental for the development of a line of endocrinological research that was able to position Universidad de Concepción as a scientific development centre, which was strengthened by the arrival of another disciple of Steinach in Chile, the Latvian professor Alejandro Lipschütz (AU)

Biopolíticas en el mundo ibérico contemporáneo / No disponible

No disponible

De plantas y hombre: cómo los genetistas se vincularon a la eugenesia en Brasil (un estudio de caso 1929-1933) / Of plants and men: how geneticists were linked to eugenics in Brazil (1929-1933)

En el presente artículo pretendemos reflexionar sobre la trayectoria de Octávio Domingues (1897-1972) y Salvador Toledo Piza Jr. (1898-1988), dos genetistas de una escuela agrícola del Estado de São Paulo que se vincularon al principal propagador de la eugenesia en Brasil, Renato Kehl (1889-1974). Ese acercamiento se concretó en su asociación alrededor de la publicación del Boletim de Eugenia, importante vehículo de divulgación del movimiento eugenésico entre los años 1929 y 1933. A partir del análisis de esa publicación periódica, ha sido posible detectar que, aunque los dos partían de la teoría mendeliana de la herencia, Toledo Piza Jr. consideraba el mestizaje de la población brasileña como algo que iba en contra de la naturaleza, mientras que Octávio Domingues la juzgaba saludable (AU)

The aim of this article is to analyse the trajectory of Octávio Domingues (1897-1972) and Salvador de Toledo Piza Jr. (1898-1988), two geneticists in the Agricultural School of São Paulo State, who engaged with the main propagandist for the eugenics in Brazil, Renato Kehl (1889-1974). This approach is embodied in its association surrounding the publication of the Boletim de Eugenia, an important vehicle for the dissemination of the eugenics movement between the years 1929 and 1933. From the analysis of this journal, it was possible to detect that even sharing both Mendelian theory of heredity, Toledo Piza Jr. considered miscegenation of the Brazilian population as something against nature, while Octávio Domingues judged it healthy (AU)

El huevo de la serpiente al sur del mundo: desarrollo y supervivencia de la ciencia nazi en Chile (1908-1951) / The serpent's egg at the south of the world: development and survival of nazi science in Chile (1908-1951)

El trabajo aborda, principalmente a partir de la figura del Dr. Max Westenhoffer y de un trabajo de los Drs. Barrientos y Schirmer de 1937, las conexiones que presenta el desarrollo de la medicina y la antropología en Chile con el pensamiento determinista biológico y racista en Europa. Médicos y antropólogos chilenos como Otto Aichel, Aureliano Oyarzún, Edgardo Schirmer y Juvenal Barrientos dan cuenta de la relación directa de una parte del programa científico chileno de la primera mitad del siglo XX con el programa hereditarista y racista, que alcanzó su punto cúlmine con la eugenesia y la antropología nazi (AU)

The paper presents, mainly through the figure of Dr. Max Westenhoffer and in a work of Drs. Barrientos and Schirmer (1937), the connections between the development of medicine and anthropology in Chile with the development of the biological determinist thought and racism in Europe. Chilean Physicians and anthropologists as Otto Aichel, Aureliano Oyarzún, Edgardo Schirmer and Juvenal Barrientos indicate the direct relationship of the Chilean scientific program of the early twentieth century with the hereditarian and racist program, which reached its climax with the Nazi eugenics (AU)

Iglesia católica y eugenesia latina: un constructo teórico para el control social (Argentina, 1924-1958) / Catholic church and latin eugenics: a theoretical construct for the social control (Argentina, 1924-1958)

Se abordan aquí interacciones entabladas entre ciencia y religión a través de la formulación de un saber particularmente influyente en el campo del poder, como fue el conformado en torno a una corriente de pensamiento eugénico. Nos referimos a la variante gestada desde la biotipología italiana para atender al control social impulsado por el fascismo y también por países como la Argentina donde llegó a sobrevivir en el tiempo más allá de la segunda posguerra. Esa versión eugénica, caracterizada por un encendido rechazo a cualquier acción pública o privada orientada a la esterilización humana - atento al mandato católico de no intervención sobre los cuerpos, gestión privativa de Dios - propició medidas también tendentes a acelerar una selección artificial vulnerando todo principio de igualdad humana. Tomando la postura oficial de la Iglesia católica ante la eugenesia, entre 1924 y 1958, su relación con la biotipología y la difusión en Argentina de la llamada eugenesia latina, en tanto expresión resultante de esa articulación entre ciencia y religión, se busca dar cuenta de la coexistencia en ese constructo de la identificación, clasificación, jerarquización y exclusión de individuos que caracteriza a todo planteo eugenésico, instrumentados merced a dispositivos coercitivos de índole ambiental (AU)

This paper discusses interactions between science and religion thorough the formulation of the Italian Biotipology, as knowledge very influential in the field of power. That ideology was created around a variant of the eugenic thinking for to give answers to the social control promoted by the fascism; and it was well accepted in different countries, as Argentina, for example. Here, it survived over several years beyond the World War II. The Biotipology was characterized by a strong repulse to any public or private action oriented to human sterilization. Indeed, we must remember that Catholic rules imposed the "no-intervention on the bodies", belonging only to God. On these corpus of ideas, the new Italian science prompted arrangements that attempt to accelerate the artificial selection breaking the human equality principle. Between 1924 and 1958, the Biotipology was the official Catholic doctrine about Eugenics and it was widespread in Argentina from the called Latin Eugenics. In this manner, the identification, classification, hierarchical structure and exclusion of some humans, were instrumented in this country by means of coercive and environmental devices (AU)

Una dialógica desestabilizadora del orden social y sexual: el médico argentino Juan Lazarte en la Revista Anarquista Estudios (1932-1936) / A destabolizing dialogics of social and sexual order: the argentinian physician Juan Lazarte in the anarchist magazine estudios (1932-1936)

En este trabajo analizamos los artículos del médico argentino Juan Lazarte publicados en la revista Estudios en los años 30 del siglo XX. Este hecho se produjo en el marco de una política editorial que pretendía superar la exclusión a que eran sometidos los discursos de oposición al orden social establecido. La práctica discursiva analizada se desarrolló sobre una dialógica en torno a las propuestas neomaltusianas y eugenésicas y a las causas históricas de unas relaciones sociales generizadas que estructuraban una doble moral sexual. Lazarte usó diversas formas de intertextualidad y señaló la compatibilidad de planteamientos que se mostraban opuestos en apariencia, sin obviar las diferencias, evitando los debates en términos dicotómicos. Esta praxis hizo posible un uso táctico de la retórica eugenésica en la propuesta neomaltusiana con la que se pretendía que la especie humana alcanzase un estado de buen vivir. Al no concebir la historia desde una ideología del progreso, y empeñarse en considerar los distintos aspectos de los problemas (biológicos, económicos y culturales), el discurso de Lazarte en Estudios contribuía a conformar un mundo que desafiaba los supuestos de un biopoder determinista, constituyéndose en un poder desestabilizador del orden sexual y social (AU)

In this paper we analyze the articles published by Argentinean physician Juan Larzarte in the magazine Estudios in the 1930s. This took place within a publishing policy aimed at overcoming the exclusion of discourses opposing the established social order. The discourse practices we explore were dialogic while focusing on neo-Malthusian and eugenic propositions and the historical causes of a gendered social relations structuring a double sexual morals. Lazarte used several forms of intertextuality and suggested the compatibility of seemingly opposed approaches without getting round the differences and avoiding debates in dichotomic terms. These practices allowed the strategic use of eugenic rhetoric within the neo-Malthusian proposition aimed at the human species to reach a state of good living. As he did not consider history from an ideology of progress, and insisted on taking into account the different facets of any issue (biological, economic and cultural), Lazarte’s discourse in Estudios contributed to configure a world defying the assumptions of a deterministic biopower, thus becoming a destabilizing power regarding the sexual and social order (AU)

Cirugías fingidas en los Andes. A propósito de un pequeño corpus documental / Shammed surgeries in the Andes: concerning a small documental corpus

Si bien los pueblos andinos contemporáneos muestran un marcado rechazo a las intervenciones quirúrgicas por diversas razones de índole cultural, encontramos en los relatos coloniales de los siglos XVI y XVII descripciones que aluden a la expresión formal de cirugías simbólicas, bajo trance, que persiguen la extracción corporal de los objetos y sustancias que materializan la enfermedad. El artículo analiza varias de estas intervenciones fingidas comparándolas con las actuales estrategias terapéuticas de corte chamánico que realizan los curanderos andinos (AU)

Even when contemporary Andean peoples show a strong rejection to surgical interventions due to cultural reasons, in 16th- and 17th-century colonial sources we find acounts that describe the formal expression of symbolic surgical interventions (carried out while in trance) that aim to extract from the body those objects and substances that materialize the ailment. This article analyzes some of these mock interventions and compares them with current shamanic therapeutical strategies carried out by Andean healers (AU)

"A visitation of providence:" Public health and eugenic reform in the wake of the Halifax disaster.

The Halifax Explosion provided the opportunity for an "experiment in public health" that was meant not only to restore but also to improve the city and its population in the process. The restructuring that occurred during the restoration was influenced by pre-existing ideals and prejudices which were reflected in the goals of the newly formed committees in charge of the reconstruction. The primary emphasis on improvement as well as control was the result of existing regional concerns regarding the emigration of the province's most "desirable" stock, in the form of healthy, educated young men and women, to central Canada and the eastern United States. Public health reforms reflected the eugenic goal of improving the overall quality of the population through education, surveillance, and inspection, resorting finally to institutionalizing people who public health officials determined were genuinely deficient.