Cloning Enigma

Year 2004:

A father goes to a hospital and enters the room of a genetic engineer.

" Sir I want to have a child."

Doctor, "What gender?"

" A boy, blue eyes, blonde hair, fair skin , good height and intelligence equivalent to Einstein's."

Doctor," Sorry sir, no Einstiens, no Aristotles, Government isn't allowing any more. You know the student councils have been shouting their heads off, cause the Sommerfield Wave equation has been changed so often."

Brace yourselves fellow human beings, for the onslaught of technology in the ensuing years. Owing to the rapid progress being made in genetics, you and I might be declared a rare species in the years to come. 'Designer Babies' will be the order of the day.

Alas! The first human clone being bred in American Laboratories will not grow into a human being like us mortals! But it possesses a replication of our Genetic Code. The cells will continue to multiply like in any of us but unlike us they would be on a laboratory's culture discs. The basic purpose behind this million dollar Genome Project is to create healthy cells free from any diseases and use them to cure ailing people.

I personally feel that this entire project is a wonderful step towards eradicating lethal like AIDS and cancer. However, many people view this achievement in a negative manner by blaming the doctors for 'playing God'. They believe that creating an artificial human clone is a direct revolt against nature's equilibrium. However, it must not be forgotten that God has assigned man the role of serving humanity in any way possible. And, I view this human clone as a promising solution to many problems.

Another conservative view is; the technology available today is not advanced enough to ensure that the clone develops steadily into a disease free source of cells. The cloned sheep, Dolly developing symptoms of arthritis at a young age, has specially proved this. Nevertheless, one must be aware of the fact that it is a trial and error process which will gradually lead to more reliable cloning techniques. Having an attitude that perfection cannot be attained is extremely non-conducive for