Dagger Drawn by Nina Pillai

February 20, 2001

Cloned for posterity

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter XI, Verse 16 reads: I see Thee of boundless form, on every side with manifold arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; neither the end nor the middle, nor also the beginning of Thee do I see, O Lord of the universe, O Universal Form.

Recent studies published by rival British and American scientists on genomebiotics and its simple mutation, have given a serious edge to the blueprint of mankind. Having cracked the genetic code, cloning human beings has now become a dead heat race to see who will be first at the ticker tape to clone, successfully, a human baby. A cure for Parkinson's disease, is a pleasant fall out of this leap into the unknown for all of mankind.

Embryonic stern cells (and you need a lot of dead embryos for this experimentation!) are the new test tube baby replacements, in that, a dead sibling can contribute to a clone, which in theory could be an identikit replication of the dead baby but runs the risk of being born with two arms, heads or what have you, as Dolly the cloned sheep's other laboratory mates turned out to have. Dolly was the result of the 90th the try. It made head lines, bringing untold riches in Research Funds to the scientists concerned.

Dolly's cloning and the new trials strain the theory contained in our scriptures that the Universal form of the Lord along was manifold. That human clone experimentation has begun is not even a debate, when we will be told of a successful cloning, is the billion dollar question now. In the wake of the genome theory, the Indian Government announced a Rs 100 crore genetic research grant, which seemed a piffling afterthought.

But a reality check will prove, that with a population like ours, premature or unwanted births guarantee a fertile harvesting ground for the vultures of greed that this human experimentation guarantees. We need policing, now more than ever, to trap the body snatchers. The perfect race may have lost its shine after Hitler's annihilation of the Jewish race but this time around the stakes could be much higher, as it cuts through caste, colour, creed and socio economic nomenclatures to create what could be a `Dream Baby' or, even better, a conveyer line of perfection.

I am of the opinion that we tread on very treacherous, quick-sand logic when it comes to cloning. For, with the genetic code cracked, one could in theory just recreate an organ for a person needing a transplant, or another arm, for a gangrene-ridden one. But soon it will beg for a baby with Mensa intelligence, an athlete's body, Grecian features and perfect in every possible way. This is not scientific-fiction diatribe but the logical conclusion to the Mad Hatter race that science is currently playing host to.

With the advent of cloning human beings, God could become a bit redundant as the giver of life. The few who control this experimentation may well feel like demi Gods now. Again, with this advent, man and woman need not get married or even live together, as perfect baby material need not come from either of the cohabitants. Wow! Then, in the world of e-business one can dream up the cherubic clone and, voila! It appears perhaps as virtual reality, Star Wars style, in a puff of glamourous vapour on your lap. I remind you, that the possibility of another `you' will surely exist.

If you are God's chosen one at anything, the clone though will be light years ahead in the chosen sphere, finally ensuring the extinction of the original, now flawed, being.

Imagine, the greenbuck churning brains in our Silicon valley, getting culled (through a routine blood test) and put into an Anglo Saxan perfect body. You could create the monster genius of tomorrow. Should we worry? Why the panic? When it is trotted out as scientific progress and is being so closely monitored. Really? All of the thinking world knows that a scientist or inventor is a zealot when it comes to work secrecy and deception being the mainstay of the multinational drug manufacturers that finance them.

In laboratories across the world, human embryonic stem cells are being experimented upon and babies, with umbilical cords still attached, are the guinea pigs. We have an ongoing census in the country but can anyone give me statistics on the deaths of unwanted girl children, a fact so many homes have borne mute testimony to, this past year?

Yet, it is shameful that genome data banks in the West have detailed genetic coding to select groups of exceptional Indian races the Dravidian, the Coorgi each of which can boast a 1000-year trace to a family tree and thus make for perfect race calculations. The native populations of the researching nations are perhaps newer and have a more cross-cultural population of a couple of hundred years, making us look like an ancient civilisation by comparison. I think, as a race, we need to delve into genome study and seriously debate the place of cloning, in our cultured society.

The human mind and body are unique and special. Even in our children we see the random choice of God. In features, behaviour and gender, can a should be created? Can our whole belief in the after-life, be challenged in the light of cloning? That is, if our cells, at the very least, make it to the finish tape in the genome race, immorality may become the quest as we effectively defy death. This human narcissism could slip on the banana peel of divine grace and Kalyug could well and truly be the end for every one. So say the scriptures, anyway.