Document Detail


Contested conceptions: PKU in the postwar discourse on reproduction.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  14650403     Owner:  HMD     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
This essay uses the case of PKU as a portal through which to view shifting and contested views about genetics and reproductive behavior. In the early 1960s, the development of an effective therapy for PKU converged with the development of a test that could reliably detect the condition in newborns. As a result, infants born with the condition were enabled to reach adulthood and reproduce. However, by the early 1980s, a "second-generation" effect of screening was manifest, whereby many infants born to women who had been salvaged by screening were themselves severely damaged. In the 1940s, Lionel Penrose employed the case of PKU to demonstrate what was wrong with eugenics. Twenty years later, it would be used to illustrate why controls on reproduction were needed.
Authors:
Diane B Paul
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Historical Article; Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Medicina nei secoli     Volume:  14     ISSN:  0394-9001     ISO Abbreviation:  Med Secoli     Publication Date:  2002  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2003-12-01     Completed Date:  2004-02-24     Revised Date:  2004-11-17    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0176472     Medline TA:  Med Secoli     Country:  Italy    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  773-91     Citation Subset:  Q    
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Female
Fertilization*
Genetics / history*
Great Britain
History, 20th Century
History, 21st Century
Humans
Phenylketonuria, Maternal / history*
Pregnancy
Reproductive Behavior / history*
United States

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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