The Future of Human Reproduction: The Input of Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany in the International Framework for Eugenic Governance

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Having explored empirically (in her Kiban C research) the evolution of the debate on PGT-M in Japan, the PI concluded from it that the prediction made by some prominent bioethicists that the future of human reproduction is not through sex but through Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) does not necessarily hold. In particular, when looking at the Japanese case, the projection of the Stanford University Professor Henry Greely that within the next 20-30 years the majority of people in countries with good healthcare systems will procreate not in the old-fashioned way (namely, through sex), but through embryo screening (not only for heritable diseases but also for ad hoc mutations) does not hold. The Japanese case demonstrates that PGD will not be/is not so easy as Greely envisions; Japan has a most sophisticated healthcare system, and yet Greely’s “Easy PGD” is proving not easy here. Indeed, Japan, for one, seems to remain one of those “tricky” jurisdictions that do not fall in line with predictions by Greely and other prognosticators of an impending reproductive revolution for the human species. One of the implications of this finding is that the global framework for reproductive governance which is currently in construction, with initiatives within the United Nations, cannot be based on the premise drawn by scholars such as Greely and needs to accurately represent the international reality, incorporating cases from Asia as well.