Eugenics on agenda again
CHINESE legislators will deliberate a controversial and much-delayed law on eugenics in the standing committee meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC) beginning tomorrow in Beijing.
The legislation, first submitted to the NPC in December, has triggered strong criticisms.
The Government, in a bid to pacify protests, particularly from Western countries, shelved the law for nearly a year, renamed it 'the law on the protection of the health of mothers and infants' and omitted all mention of 'eugenics' to make it less contentious.
The Public Health Ministry was even forced to issue a statement rejecting accusations that the law would initiate a Nazi-style eugenics movement.
An official from the ministry blamed the English translation of yousheng as the source of outrage in the international community, the China News Service (CNS) said.
'Its English translation - eugenics - is the same word as in the Nazi-style eugenics policy,' the official said.
'It has defied the original purpose of the legislation - to protect the health of mothers and infants and to raise the quality of new-borns. Therefore, amendment is necessary,' he said.
NPC spokesman Zhou Chengkui said yesterday that the new name was to avoid 'unnecessary misunderstanding'.
Eugenics has been practised for the past few years and the new law was designed to codify existing practices.
It is a matter of course for local governments throughout China, particularly in the poorer provinces, which do not have the resources to cope with the mentally and physically handicapped.
