Biotechnology is the new GATTACA

          What we learn from Emily Anthes' Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts, is that humans are always fascinated by what the next new trend will be. Usually that calls for whatever is aesthetically pleasing to the public. With technological advances becoming more prevalent, we have turned the necessity of technology into a commodity that can be broken and replaced because it isn't as good as the next new update. It is ironic when you realize that animals have been put on the same scale as the next new technological upgrade. Thereby sacrificing it's "intrinsic value"... and limiting them to "instrumental value, treating them as mere tools to be resources to be tapped" (Anthes 41).  It is interesting however, that idea of eugenics in animals, stemmed from eugenics of humans. 

                                                                            
                                                    Picking out the child you want is more or less like grocery shopping.

          According to the article Human testing, the Eugenics Movement and IRBs  by Dr. Karen Norrgard, the term Eugenics was first coined by British Scientist Francis Galton in 1869, meaning "well born". By assembling "biographical information from obituaries and other sources, [he] constructed pedigrees of leading English families, concluding that superior intelligence and abilities were inherited with an efficacy of 20% (Norrgard). His work allowed him to theorize that humanity could be improved by "encouraging the fittest members of society to have more children" (Norrgard). This seemingly plausible theory caused one of the most infamous forms of eugenics recorded in history. 

                                                                                 
                                                                                 Let's measure your genetics.

          The 1997 sci-fi movie Gattaca paid close attention to the theme of eugenics forged by Galton, making this fiction seem too far away to be reality. The story is of a society which analyzes DNA and determines where you belong in life. Because the main character was born with a congenital heart condition, his intrinsic value as a person was less important than that of an athlete, removing his opportunity to travel in space. By assuming an identity from an athlete, the main character uses it to his advantage to live his dreams but must also face the threat of being caught and having his real identity exposed. This sci-fi flick was far from fiction because it brought to light the events history that were rooted in eugenics.  
          In 1933, Nazi Germany issued the Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases. This law allowed the government to involuntarily sterilize Germans who had known hereditary conditions or physical deformities in order to allow the advancement of the Aryan race (Norrgard). Continuing on through the remainder of the 1930s, the law progressed into a race hygiene program that was implemented to euthanize those exhibiting physical and mental deformities (Norrgard). Eventually this policy led to the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were murdered. It is interesting how this movie was almost satirical, criticizing science for reducing the populous in terms of it's worth.
          Because we have learned from history, the 1940's presented a solution that would end human eugenics. The Nuremberg trials which later formed the Nuremberg Codes in 1947 "provided guidelines for research that....require ...informed consent and adherence to strict policies aimed at protecting the welfare of [human] subjects" (Norrgard). Furthermore, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) gives impartial reviews and criticisms over human trials that occur today (Norrgard). Sadly, these sanctions were not put in place to help animals, therefore allowing allowing "genetic engineering... to exploit other species for new reasons and in new ways, expanding our supply of creature commodities (Anthes 36).  This has caused selective breeding within animal species, to produce the best outcome for the owner. Although it can be done naturally by the means of reproduction, scientists have challenged the idea of letting nature take its course by breeding species that divert from nature altogether, with some species defying evolutionary tales.

                                                                                 
                                                                                     Human-animal hybrid
     
         Pharm animals have slowly become popular since scientists have been able to insert human genes in animals in hopes of creating medicinal cures. This  discovery has formed what is called human-animal chimeras which "have cells that come from two different species (Anthes 45). The argument can be made that this form of animal eugenics has given us insight on major scientific discoveries that has allowed us to evolve. But Anthes states that many argue this is a threat to our uniqueness because it harms the dignity of humans. It is interesting how we don't hear it being a threat to that of animal dignity (Anthes 45- 46). Our own evolution requires that "pets are products" because "we have long desired creature companions tailored to our exact specifications." (Anthes 18, 16). The federal Animal Welfare Act doesn't come to the aid of animals either, unless said animal is experiencing pain or neglect, with the latter applying to dogs specifically (Anthes 72). In essence, the continuous use of human eugenics has lessened over the years, with animal eugenics on the rise. It seems that it will not be slowing down any time soon either.

References:

Anthes, E. (2013). "Got Milk?" Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts. (pp. 16-45). New York: Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Norrgard, K. (2008). "Human Testing, the Eugenics Movement, and IRBs." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group. Retrieved October 10, 2013 from http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/human-testing-the-eugenics-movement-and-irbs-724