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BEIJING-A freewheeling discussion last week at an international genetics meeting here* may have cleared the air on a controversial Chinese law to reduce infant mortality. The 1994 law, although aimed at improving pre- and postnatal health care, provoked a fierce outcry among some Western scientists because it appeared to forbid individuals with "certain genetic diseases" from marrying unless they agreed to be sterilized or take long-term contraceptive measures, and it also seemed to encourage abortions for fetuses with abnormalities. The provisions triggered a boycott of the meeting by the British, Dutch, and Argentine genetics societies, but several researchers from those countries came anyway. They and others came away from the meeting persuaded that the law is not as Draconian as it seemed and that in any case it is not being enforced.
The focal point of last week's debate was a 2-hour workshop on the science and ethics of eugenics. Officials of the International Genetics Federation (IGF) insisted that Chinese organizers add the session to the group's quadrennial meeting after the new law went into effect in 1995. The informal gathering, moderated by outgoing IGF secretary Anthony Griffiths of the University of British Columbia, drew about 150 scientists, several of whom spoke extemporaneously from microphones scattered around the room. The topic was also explored during an earlier session on ethical issues in genetics research and was an undercurrent in other presentations and in hallway conversation. "I think people are concerned about areas of abuse," says Jonathan...