2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The Future of Human Reproduction: The Input of Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany in the International Framework for Eugenic Governance
| Project/Area Number |
21KK0221
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| Research Institution | Osaka University |
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Principal Investigator |
Croydon Silvia 大阪大学, 大学院人間科学研究科, 准教授 (00634643)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021 – 2023
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| Keywords | state eugenics / grassroot eugenics / assisted reproduction / life selection / United Nations / global governance / germline genome editing / reproductive rights |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Having explored empirically (in her Kiban C research) the evolution of the debate on PGT-M in Japan, the PI concluded from it that the prediction made by some prominent bioethicists that the future of human reproduction is not through sex but through Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) does not necessarily hold. In particular, when looking at the Japanese case, the projection of the Stanford University Professor Henry Greely that within the next 20-30 years the majority of people in countries with good healthcare systems will procreate not in the old-fashioned way (namely, through sex), but through embryo screening (not only for heritable diseases but also for ad hoc mutations) does not hold. The Japanese case demonstrates that PGD will not be/is not so easy as Greely envisions; Japan has a most sophisticated healthcare system, and yet Greely’s “Easy PGD” is proving not easy here. Indeed, Japan, for one, seems to remain one of those “tricky” jurisdictions that do not fall in line with predictions by Greely and other prognosticators of an impending reproductive revolution for the human species. One of the implications of this finding is that the global framework for reproductive governance which is currently in construction, with initiatives within the United Nations, cannot be based on the premise drawn by scholars such as Greely and needs to accurately represent the international reality, incorporating cases from Asia as well.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The PI completed a year of collaborative research at the University of Oxford, where her exchanges and opportunities for presenting her findings helped her to further deepen her analysis of the issues revolving around the future of human reproduction. She attended the 3rd International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the renowned Fancis Crick Institute in London this year, where human germline genome editing was a hot topic of discussion. She expanded her network, including with scholars from Japan who also came with similar agenda to hers to this event. The PI will now focus on filling some gaps in her research so far, aiming to complete it as scheduled.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The PI plans to expand further on the research of Belgian bioethicist Guido Pennings, who commented through a paper published in 2010 on the attempts of the European bureaucratic elite (through the so-called "Oviedo Convention") to "harmonize" the policies on assisted reproduction on the European continent. In particular, Pennings suggested that destroying the existing legal mosaicism in terms of policies on assisted reproduction is undesirable and amounts to cultural imperialism, i.e. powerful countries in the European Union imposing their own values with regards to human reproduction onto smaller, less powerful countries. The PI intends to use Pennings' narrative expanding the conversation about policy mosaicism to the global scale, including in it Japan.
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