Politics at the Start of Life: The Case of Life Selection in Japan

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Access to the procedure known as pre-implantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders (PGT-M), which is part of an arsenal of treatments that drives the wave of new, “grassroots eugenics,” remains extremely limited in Japan. Many countries with advanced technological and biomedical know-how gave PGT-M a legal status soon after the pioneering case in London’s Hammersmith Hospital in 1988 and have since applied it widely. By contrast, in Japan, PGT-M has been implemented only on a small scale. Moreover, the procedure has not yet been accepted as standard clinical practice, with the decisions about whether to implement it or not being made on a case-by-case basis by the self-governing Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG).Utilizing primary and secondary sources, the PI constructed a thick description of the standoff over PGT-M in Japan since the early 1990s.