A significant proportion of current biomedical research is being directed towards the genetic origins of many diseases and even towards the basis of several normal human traits. The genetic components of pre-eclampsia-eclampsia are receiving considerable attention since its familial occurrence has been well documented.

Judging from Stroganoff's writings in Russia and from Menon's in India, we could place the incidence of eclampsia (strictly the convulsive stage of the syndrome) at the beginning of the XX Century between once in every fifty to one hundred deliveries in their respective populations. However, at the end of the XX Century, current incidence in most industrialized societies fluctuates between once in one thousand and two thousands deliveries, even though some data coming from Africa, Latin-America and Turkey, suggest that the incidence of eclampsia remains as reported by Stroganoff and by Menon..

Now, how could this incidence experience a ten or a twenty fold reduction in some populations and not in others? Did some favorable mutation take place in some part and not in all humankind ?

Furthermore, once a species reaches a complete evolutionary fitness through thousands or millions of years, any further spontaneous mutation turns out to be unfavorable, although the possibility of spontaneous favorable mutations in some species cannot be ruled out entirely, but not in one hundred years lapses, as it seems to have occurred in the case of Eclampsia.

Most likely, this ten or twenty fold decrease in the incidence of Eclampsia was due to something we could well call socio-medical engineering that had nothing to do with spontaneous genetic changes. But, since we can nowadays rely on genetic engineering to provoke favorable mutations in shorter time lapses, not having to wait thousands of years for changes that may never take place spontaneously, is genetic engineering the answer to the problem of Eclampsia in the whole World ?

Are we not before a mirage or illusion placing so much weight in genetics and not in social engineering ? Assuming that some favorable genetic changes could be brought about in fitness, health and intelligence through genetic tinkering, who, why, what for, and how many should benefit from it ? We could go on asking many more questions, but we settle for the ones above.