The University of Sydney School of Public Health, as part of its Sydney Health Ethics series, has invited Professor Julian Savulescu and Professor Jackie Leach-Scully to deliver a talk entitled “Polygenic Selection and Editing: A Welfarist Approach.”
In the event abstract, Savulescu argues for “a moral obligation to use polygenic scores in reproduction to select the best child.” He identifies the “problem of pleiotropy, where a polygenic disposition leads to multiple effects, such as a disposition to same sex behaviour and openness to experience.”
The talk is immediately followed by a response from Professor Jackie Scully, an eminent expert in disability ethics, presumably to provide a counter argument to Savulescu. However, Scully’s contributions are absent from the event description.
Multiple University of Sydney Student Representative Council collectives have expressed deep concern over the content of Savulescu’s talk, arguing that the identity of queer, disabled, and ethnic communities are not a matter of academic debate, as much as the continued existence of anyone is not up for debate.
In a letter to the organisers of the event, office bearers of the Disabilities, Queer, Ethnocultural, and Welfare Collectives state that “these [Savulescu’s] arguments do not exist in the abstract realm of ideas and philosophical debate, isolated from reaction, they have real political, material consequences for society, and the marginalised groups they implicitly or explicitly target.”
“It is incredibly short-sighted to believe any such gene editing technologies can exist in an apolitical vacuum, where scientists are free of the bias of their own contexts, or that this technology will not be used to fascist ends by those in power at any point present or future.
“It cannot be assumed that our society has somehow reached an endpoint in which all of humanity is treated with equal dignity, respect and care. In fact, the very logical basis of such a technology is that some human experiences are of more value than others.
“This talk creates an environment in which support for thinly veiled eugenics is a normalised position to be held within our society and the broader international academic community. This is extremely dangerous.”
In a response to the cross-collective letter, the organisers assured that Savulescu’s talk would be followed by a response from Professor Jackie Leach-Scully and that the sensitivity of the topic was not cause for the cancellation of the event.
Savulescu’s own literature in Stem Cells: New Frontiers in Science and Ethics acknowledges the resemblance between advocating for polygenic scores and the “spectre of eugenics and memories of Nazi atrocities.”
“These involved involuntary sterilisation and murder of the supposedly genetically unfit, including homosexuals. A major lesson from Nazi eugenics was that if genetic information is used, this must be separated from any state apparatus, and should be voluntary.”
The School of Public Health and Sydney Medical School have a pro-eugenics history. The School of Public Health maintains a statue and scholarship in the name of Harvey Sutton, the inaugural director of the School of Public Health. Historian Dr Diana Wyndham notes Sutton’s “open support of regimes in fascist Italy and Nazi Germany” and his support for the White Australia policy.
Amidst ongoing attacks on the rights of LGBTQI+ communities across the world, including here in Australia with Queensland’s ban on gender-affirming care against the advice of medical experts, it is alarming to see the platforming of eliminationist ideas. These ideas do not exist in a platonic apolitical academic realm. They have very real political and material consequences on people’s lives.
The SRC is planning a speakout on the day of the event. The event is scheduled to start at 12:00pm on February 27th at F23 Michael Spence Building.
