2151-805X/16/$35.00 © 2016 by Begell House, Inc. 283 Ethics in Biology, Engineering & Medicine - An International Journal, 6(3–4): 283–295 (2016) Children of Capital: Eugenics in the World of Private Biotechnology Nicholas G. Evans* & Jonathan D. Moreno Department of Medical Ethics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *Address all correspondence to: Nicholas G. Evans, Department of Medical Ethics, University of Pennsylvania, Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Dr, FL 14, [Q1]Philadelphia, PA; evann@mail.med.upenn.edu ABSTRACT: The prospect of human germline intervention—in this case, the application of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to human embryos—raises, again, the specter of eugenics, a prac- tice that aims to improve the human germline by employing an understanding of heredity in the exertion of control over who gets born or who reproduces. Although eugenics is popularly identiied as government control over reproduction, market forces and cultural mores have led individuals to embrace eugenics absent government mandate. In a world in which biomedicine and biotechnology are funded by large, private interests, concern about if eugenics will occur have elided what form eugenics might take. KEY WORDS: [Q2]CRISPR, gene editing, germline editing, liberalism I. INTRODUCTION A powerful and eicient new biotechnology has raised the proile of eugenic questions yet again. In December of 2015, an international group of scholars, laypeople, activists, and policy makers come together in Washington, D.C., to debate the use of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, better known as CRISPR. The genetic technology is purported to usher in a new age of genetic engineering owing to the use of the CRISPR associated protein 9, or Cas9, to target sequences of DNA for modiica- tion with very high precision. The promise of genetic engineering—a promise heralded by CRISPR, but not unique to it—is improved medicines, genetically engineering embryos to be free of heritable diseases, better crops, and new forms of fuel and energy generation. 1 As with any genetic technology, the concern was raised that interfering with the germline of humanity through using CRISPR to modify embryos would lead to eugenics, a practice that aims to improve human lives by employing an understanding of heredity in the exertion of control over who gets born or who reproduces. 2 Speaking at the summit, historian Daniel Kevles gave a primer on the history of eugenics. He noted that while the state-sanctioned eugenic practices, such as those committed by the Nazi party before and during World War II in an attempt to weed out “inferior” and promote “superior” genetic stock in the population, were unlikely to be precipitated by human germline modiication fueled by CRISPR, consumer demand could push reproductive practices into socially unpredictable and ethically hazardous waters. 3 Author's Proof