CHINESE GENETICISTS VIEWS OF ETHICAL ISSUES IN GENETIC TESTING AND SCREENING - EVIDENCE FOR EUGENICS IN CHINA

To identify Chinese geneticists' views of ethical issues in genetic te sting and screening, a national survey was conducted. Of 402 Chinese g eneticists asked to participate, 255 (63%) returned by mail anonymous questionnaires. The majority of respondents thought that genetic testi ng should be offered in the workplace for cr-antitrypsin deficiency (9 5%) and the predisposition of executives to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes (94%); that genetic testing should be included in preemploym ent physical examinations (86%); that governments should require prema rital carrier tests (86%), newborn screening for sickle cell (77%), an d Duchenne muscular dystrophy (71%); and that children should be teste d for genes for late-onset disorders such as Huntington disease (85%), susceptibility to cancers (85%), familial hypercholesterolemia (84%), alcoholism (69%), and Alzheimer disease (61%). Most believed that par tners should know each other's genetic status before marriage (92%), t hat carriers of the same defective gene should not mate with each othe r (91%), and that women should have a prenatal diagnosis if medically indicated (91%). The majority said that in China decisions about famil y planning were shared by the couple (82%). More than half had views t hat, in China, there were no laws to prohibit disability discriminatio n (64%), particularly to protect people with adult polycystic kidney d isease (57%), cystic fibrosis (56%), or genetic predisposition to othe r diseases (50%). To some extent, these results might provide a basis for a discussion of eugenics in China, particularly about China's Mate rnal and Infant Health Care Law (1994).