Genetics and the Law

Society has historically not taken a benign view of genetic disease. The laws permitting sterilization of the mentally re­ tarded~ and those proscribing consanguineous marriages are but two examples. Indeed as far back as the 5th-10th centuries, B.C.E., consanguineous unions were outlawed (Leviticus XVIII, 6). Case law has traditionally tended toward the conservative. It is reactive rather than di...