Based on a Y! video clip- how is that HTe Holocause stemmed from a public health movement?

Question

This statement, made by a journalist on http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=5325796&ch=4226722&src=news (about Genetree)
shocked me. What is this side remark all about?

Answer 1

The Holocaust was a result of the concept of "racial hygiene," also called "ethnic cleansing." The idea was to rid the population of undesirable genetic traits by deporting, sterilizing, or killing those who had them. The mentally retarded and the mentally ill and others with serious handicaps were "euthanized." This "scientific racism" also theorized that certain races and ethnicities were undesirable; Jews and Gypsies, for example.
This Racial Hygiene was part of the larger Eugenics movement, which was promoted by the American birth control advocate, Margaret Sanger, who founded the organization now called Planned Parenthood. She believed in sterilizing undesirable persons such as the poor and criminals.
When I consider the fact that nowadays, Health has become perhaps the highest moral value in much of the US and the Western world, it causes me concern. It is popular to condemn smoking because it is unhealthy, while accepting all kinds of immoral behavior as long as there is no direct hazard to physical health. I'm concerned about what this may lead to.