A Gene For Nothing

Well, these last six months have been an exciting time for the sheep named Dolly, ever since it was revealed that she was the first mammal cloned from adult cells. There was the night she spent in the Lincoln bedroom and the photo op with Al Gore; the triumphant ticker-tape parade down Broadway, the billboard ads for Guess Genes. Throughout the media circus, Dolly has been poised, patient, cordial, and even-tempered--the epitome of what we look for in a celebrity and role model. But despite her charm, people keep saying mean things about Dolly. Heads of state, religious leaders, and editorialists fall over themselves in calling her an aberration of nature and an insult to the sacred biological wonder of reproduction. They thunder about the anathema of even considering applying to humans the technology that spawned her. What’s everyone so upset about? Why is cloning so disturbing? Clearly, it’s not ...