The first international genetics conference staged in China will end today with a statement indirectly attacking Beijing's genetic screening laws.
Protests by foreign scientists against China's Maternal and Infant Health Care Law, which aims to 'improve population quality', led to a debate on China's 'eugenics' law and an eight-point declaration about the use of genetic technology.
Though it does not mention China, the statement says that new genetic technology should not be used 'as a tool of public policy or coercion'.
It calls for better education of doctors and the public, and suggests that the word 'eugenics' - used in the first draft of China's law - 'is no longer suitable for use in scientific literature'.
Eugenics, defined as state attempts to alter the genetic quality of future generations, was used in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union as an excuse for genocide.
Human rights groups fear the same might be done in China against 'inferior' groups.
