Existential questions from the drawing room seem to be left by the wayside. . . Can a genetic clone really fill the void left by a lost & gone pet? Or, is it nature or nuture? Now that legal barriers and technological shortcomings are subsiding, the real questions are: can cloning be profitable?
Many months ago, mention of Dolly et al would have been strictly science & technology, but the latest leap in closing is squarely a business article. The LA Times and NY Times both reported a price drop to the tune of $18,000.
You have to admire their style: “To display its work and perhaps to help demystify its science,” the laboratory at Genetic Savings and Clone is built within glass walls for the viewing pleasure of the public. The parlour talk has worn thin, and biomedical ethics has invited in ribald attitudes.
In a world where information is quickly commodified wherever it is uncovered, and genetics hold a bounty of information, perhaps it’s only a matter of time until price tags become affixed to every trait of someone’s child. . . or for the time being, someone’s pet cat.