"I want a boy who'll grow up to be good at maths, six foot tall and good looking, of course. I want him to be heterosexual and to be devoid of all genetic diseases and other disorders, naturally. And can you make it so he won't wet the bed much and not pick his nose?"

The bible tells us that God made man. Science tells us that before too long, man will be making man. In the last few weeks the media has reported on sex selection techniques by the use of gene technology and new findings will suggest that homosexuality may be gene related. On what might seem like an entirely different angle, we have Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park- a fantasy about dinosaurs brought to life by the use of gene technology.

But how fantastic is gene technology? Is it really possible to bring a species back from the dead? In 1984 in the American Berkeley Laboratories, genetic engineers, Allan Wilson and Russel Higguchi, managed to resurrect the DNA structure of the quagga. The quagga is a zebra-like creature, which lived in Africa and has been extinct for over a hundred years.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) controls all known life on this planet. Its structure was first described in 1953 by J.D. Watson and F.H.C. Crick, as a double helix consisting of a pair of strands of polynucleotides with information encoded at each position by the choice of nucleotides. DNA looks a bit like a ladder, with a twist around its axis giving it its double helix shape. It has only four basic elements: deoxyribose sugar molecules, phosphates, adenine-thymine and cytosine-guanine. These elements combine to create the life programme in a somewhat similar way to which a digital computer operates. In short, DNA is the stuff of which our genes are made.

There are about 100,000 genes in the human body, 6,000 or so of which have already been roughly mapped by genetic scientists. Genes make our eyes blues, make us susceptible to certain diseases, make us hot-tempered; genes are what make us. The American government is spending $3 billion in order to get a detailed map of all our genes. As its researchers are discovering the secrets of particular genes, patents are being put on them. In other words, life, its ills and how they will be cured are being patented.

Gene technology enables scientists to know what the ingredients of life are and how they are put together. In a very real sense man is becoming God. What follows are just some of the areas this new God is now able - or will soon be able - to control.

Child Planning

Humans suffer from some 4,000 genetically caused diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and obesity. When scientists have properly mapped these diseases they will be able to inform parents, who can then choose to abort the foetus and try again. If the genetic disorder is a permanent fixture in the parents sperm and/or egg make-up, they can have the foetus treated so as to replace the diseased gene with a properly functioning one.

However, the choice will not always be up to the parents. A few years ago, a US insurance company, having discovered that a client's genetic foetus test had shown that her baby would suffer from cystic fibrosis, insisted that she terminate her pregnancy or they would terminate her medical insurance.

One of the most widespread uses of genetic engineering at present is in relation to the 'sex selection' of the foetus. Choosing the sex of your child sounds reasonable enough until you realise that in many societies - perhaps all societies - a baby girl is not valued nearly as highly as a baby boy. In China - because of their one-child-per-family population control law - the murder of baby girls is common. A recent Sunday Tribune article reported that "The Chinese now accept homosexual activity simply because there aren't enough women to go around." In certain Arab countries it was - perhaps still is - customary to have a bucket of water placed beside the bed so that if the mother gives birth to a girl, she can be quickly drowned.

Such deep prejudices towards the female are not limited to 'developing' countries. Research from Canada found that mothers with two boys were more likely to use contraception than mothers with two girls. Therefore, it is not surprising that many parents who have used these sex selection clinics, have been looking for boys. A recent article in the British Medical Journal states that "Of those using the first franchised clinics in America, Asia and Europe, 236 couples have chosen to have boys while just fifteen have chosen girls."

Another medical journal, The Lancet, doesn't necessarily see anything wrong with a society in which there are more boys than girls. In fact, it views it as a good thing for women: the less of them there are to choose from, the more valuable they become as 'marriage partners'. Obviously, such an opinion does not take into consideration the fact that many women may view their role in life as something other than for breeding purposes. However, should their numbers decline greatly as a result of male-child sex selection decisions, then it will be likely that social and perhaps even legal pressures will be brought to bear to ensure that the reduced female population stays at home to breed.

Genetically Related Diseases and Injuries

Ashanti Desilva and Cynthia Cutshall are brave new children, the first humans to have had their gene structure permanently altered by genetic engineering. Both of them suffered from severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). SCID is a gene related disease, which stops the body making an enzyme called adenosine deaminase (ADA), which is a vital part of the body's immune system.

Using DNA techniques the missing enzyme was inserted into a virus. Then the cells which produced immune cells were flushed out of the children's bodies and mixed with the genetically engineered virus. The virus entered these cells, thus giving them the ability to make the missing enzyme. These cells were then re-injected back into the children. Although too early to predict with certainty, initial results indicate that the technique has been successful in eliminating SCID from the girls.

These positive early indications from such genetic techniques look likely to herald a brand new era in medical practice. In the case of most genetically related diseases, particularly if they are discovered in the early stages, operations will become redundant. Instead, genetically related techniques will make things much simpler, easier for the patient, and in all likelihood, far more successful

If you lose a limb in the not too distant future, it should be possible for it to be grown back for you. The genes which controlled growth in the foetus stay with us permanently. Gene technology is researching ways of reactivating these genes.

Homosexuality And Other Social 'Disorders'

Just published research indicates that homosexuality may be gene related. The research, using a deductive approach, found that homosexuality has familial links, particularly so on the mother's side. By then analysing the gene material from 40 pairs of gay brothers, the research found that in 33 of the pairs, the brothers had identical pieces at the end tip of the X chromosome. The chances of such an occurrence happening randomly are less than 1/200.

The research is still in its early stages and the gene(s) which may control homosexuality has not yet been isolated. Such a 'gay gene' may not even exist, or may only have an influence on homosexual activity, as Dr Dean H. Hamer of the American National Cancer Institute explains: "Sexual orientation is too complex to be determined by a single gene. The main value of this work is that it opens a window into understanding how genes, the brain and the environment interact to mould human behaviour."

Should a 'gay gene' exist, it will open up a moral and legal Pandora's box. Some argue that if science proves that homosexuality is inherent rather than learned, laws discriminating against it will no longer have any legal basis. This view is supported by Mr Gregory J. King, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the largest American lesbian and gay lobbying group. "We think the study is very important. Fundamentally it increases our understanding of the origins of sexual orientation, and at the same time we believe it will help increase public support for lesbian and gay men."

However, Mr Darrell Yates, from the Gay And Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is not so sure. "Intellectually, what do we gain from finding out there's a homosexual gene? Nothing, except an attempt to identify those people who have it and then open them up to all sorts of experimentation to change them." Such a view is shared by Dr Richard Nicholson, editor of the Bulletin Of Medical News: "This has practical implications, because of course we are testing foetuses in a variety of different ways in the womb - and aborting foetuses if they have sometimes relatively minor abnormalities." Already, as a response to these fears, British Liberal Democrat, David Alton has put a motion to Parliament calling for the drawing up of a charter which would control the abuse of such possible knowledge.

As genetics maps more and more genes and thus discovers more and more about how we are made, the questions of what should and should not be 'fixed' will multiply. If there should be a 'serial killer' gene, then everyone would agree that it should be replaced. However, supposing there's a 'hot temper' gene, what should be done to it? Everyone would want to see 'cancer genes' replaced. Should 'common cold' genes be replaced too? When the genes responsible for mental and physical retardation are found, they will surely be treated. But what about those which will cause a low IQ? And where should the cut-off point be? And are dwarfs to be seen as physically retarded? And if so, what will the cut-off height be?

The Criminal Gene

American Kerry Kotler, spent eleven years in jail on a rape charge. He was freed after DNA testing proved that his semen was genetically different from that which was found on the victim. Although Kotler is one of more than a dozen men released from American prisons within the last eighteen months because of genetic testing, it remains true to say that 'genetic fingerprinting' is being more widely used to convict people rather than release them. Since genetic testing came into use in America, it has helped connect some seven hundred people to crimes.

'Genetic fingerprinting', when it was introduced here and in Britain, was seen by many as a practically foolproof method of catching the criminal. However, civil rights activists have pointed out that it is not such a 'cut-and-dry' device. Results can be influenced by the competence of the technicians, the equipment used and the quality and age of the genetic sample. There is also a lot of controversy about the possibilities of 'false' matches - that two people could have to same DNA profile. Such a chance - depending on ethnic similarities and the like - may range from infinitesimal to 1/20.

Unfortunately, the impression that science brings with it a magical certainty is still a strongly held belief among some of our politicians, as Tom Cooney, from the Irish Council For Civil Liberties points out. "Some of the politicians who spoke in the Dáil debates never even allowed for the possibility that this form of evidence could not be just wrong but could be seriously wrong, depending on a number of factors."

Food Supply

We already have genetically engineered cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, corn, wheat and the like. These animals are born leaner to grow faster. Often the rest of their bodies are not capable of keeping up with their rapidly growing food-flesh, and their short lives are ones of continuous agony. However, the day when their agony ends may not be that far off. It may soon be possible to grow meat, bacon, beef and chicken. Such 'animals' will be grown in whatever shape is required. Their feeding and waste disposal will be controlled by a set of tubes, with the overall lump of meat being regulated by a computer system.

Genetic engineering allows the possibility for creating an human/animal/vegetable symbiont. If they felt like it geneticists could stick the head of a cow on a horse's body, or the head of a man on a dog's body. A genetically engineered mouse - designed for research purposes - has been patented. In other words, companies are now beginning to have world rights on animals and vegetables. Perhaps someday they'll patent new types of humans too.

Genetic Warfare

It is now accepted by most anthropologists and geneticists that Africa was the birthplace of the homo sapien, and that some 50,000 years ago a group of them left the continent and populated the rest of the world.

However, the father of genetics, Sir Francis Galton, believed in the racial superiority of Anglo-Saxons and the like, and spent his life trying to discover how these superior traits could be isolated and encouraged. In his 1869 book, Hereditary Genius, he proposed that a system should be created whereby men of distinction should marry wealthy and beautiful women and thus create a super race. This new 'science' would become know as eugenics, with, of course, Hitler and Churchill being among its most famous proponents.

Humans have 99.9% of their DNA in common. The remaining .1% has subtle through definite differences. Within ethnic groups and races it may be the case that a certain gene structure is present which does not exist within other races. If this should be the case then it may be possible to genetically engineer a virus which will attack certain races, while leaving others untouched. However, such militaristic strategies are loaded with dangers. Viruses may mutate and eventually turn on those who created them.

THE RICH GET HEALTHIER...

The greatest disease facing the human population at the moment is hunger. There is a simple solution, which is well within the means of the powers that be. However, the Western World prefers to put its surplus food in storage, and thus maintain its market value, than feed its starving neighbours.

There are other reasons. Population control is one of them. Although they will never be so explicit, Western leaders - and by extension Western people - are terrified by the population explosion in the Third World and its consequences for world resources. They see death by starvation as a welcome, if crude, form of population control.

The breakthroughs which are now occurring in genetics mean that the next generations will be able to live longer. Some believe that the genetically engineered homo sapien will be able to live comfortably to 100, perhaps to 120 or more. Naturally, this will increase population size.

Such consequences of the Genetic Dream are never far from the minds of geneticists. In an recent interview with Time magazine, James Watson and Francis Crick - who first determined the structure of DNA, with Crick exclaiming: "We have discovered the secret of life" - made their worries clear.

Crick: "All the worries about genetic engineering pale into significance with the question of what you are going to do about there being so many people in the world and the rate at which they will increase."

Watson: "Yes, that's what I worry about - overpopulation."

MAPPING THE SECRETS OF LIFE

*1953 - The DNA double helix structure is established by James Watson and Francis Crick.

*1961 - Research begins to unravel the genetic code

*1973 - Biotech industry emerges as technique for recombining genes is patented.

*1975 - At an international geneticists meeting, researchers want to see guidelines set down which will regulate DNA research.

*1976 - Genetech Inc. is established and becomes the first genetic engineering company.

*1977 - Recombinant-DNA techniques produce a bacteria-based human hormone.

*1978 - A method is developed for rapidly determining the sequence of the "bases" that carry the genetic code in a DNA molecule.

*1979 - Human insulin gene is cloned.

*1983 - Development of the polymerase reaction allows scientists to produce specific genes in large quantities quickly.

*1985 - Britain becomes the first country to use 'genetic fingerprinting' as a part of criminal investigations.

*1984 - 100-year extinct quagga has its DNA structure resurrected.

*1985 - Genetic marker for cystic fibrosis is discovered.

*1987 - A genetically engineered tomato is grown in the open air.

*1987 - DNA tests are used to convict people in America

*1988 - A mouse becomes the first genetically engineered animal to receive a patent.

*1990 - The $3 billion funded American National Center For Human Genome Research is set up with the objective of mapping and sequencing the entire set of human genes. It is headed by James Watson.

*1990 - Two children become the first humans to have successful gene therapy carried out on them.

*1990 - French researcher Daniel Cohen discovers a technique for mapping genes which will speed up the process considerably. Cohen says that he will give his genetic map - when completed - to the United Nations as a gift to humanity, because, as he states "You can't patent something that belongs to everyone."

*1992 - James Watson resigns as head of National Center For Human Genome Research mainly because of The Center's policy of patenting DNA fragments.

*1993 - Research indicates that a 'gay gene' may exist.

*1993 - Gene connected with colon cancer is discovered.