The evolution of intelligence in our specie is the characteristic that has had the most profound impact on our planet and on us. This intelligence, among other things, allows us to understand and combat some genetic diseases. Inventions such as spectacles to correct our vision or drugs that fight heart disease and cancer have extended and improved the lives of individuals who, in a more Darwinian world, w

While Begley seems to gloss over the ethical morass that germ-line therapy might create, Paul Gray devotes his article, "Cursed by Eugenics" to discussing one of the more significant dangers of this technology (Time, January 11, 1999). Although researchers may find ways to keep germ-line alterations form being passed on to future generations, eugenics would be an ever-present concern to society. Gray tells a cautionary tale by recalling a time when the theory of eugenics promised to eliminate inherited traits that weakened a society. At the turn of the century, traits such as "feeblemindedness, epilepsy, criminality, insanity, alcoholism, pauperism" were believed to be inherited. Therefore, with controlled and even legislated "breeding" such characteristics could conceivably be eliminated. According to the article, "many U. S. states enacted laws requiring the sterilization of those held in custody who were deemed to suffer from hereditary defects." Gray also compares eugenicists of the past with molecular biologists of today. He describes eugenicists as "usually well-meaning and progressive types" who wished to help people. This implies that the same motivations drove eugenicists to embrace their beliefs, perhaps, drive today's scientist to develop techniques in gene therapy. The infectious optimism of the science community can be found spreading throughout society today, he suggests. He continues that the fervor created by the promises of an "improved" population by way of science led to some of the worst atrocities our world has known. He writes, "nowhere, of course, were eugenic theories more enthusiastically codified into binding state doctrine than in Nazi Germany." The suggestion that gene therapy may potentially lead to horrors comparable to the holocaust are discouraging indeed. Though not likely to occur, such viewpoints can be appreciated for the guidance they may one day provide. Gray closes, " [The eugenicists] were wrong, with unintended consequences for millions of people. But the legacy of the eugenicists may be instructive. The next time you hear someone promoting the scientific improvement of the human race, think of them."

ould have otherwise been eliminated by natural selection. Cheating this process, however, has allowed a multitude of genetic diseases such as Tay Sachs and hemophilia to propagate in our gene pool. But researchers are taking the field of medicine to a new fr

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