Think of the Children

Researchers at Bath University have pioneered a technique of producing embryos substituting skin cells for eggs. Mere scientists may be excited at the achievement because it pushes back the frontiers of knowledge about fertilisation and development; others may gleefully anticipate the squeals of indignation from religious moralists at the thought of two men having a biological baby together. Rather than dwelling on such trivial concerns, the scientific editor of Britain's leading liberal newspaper babbles about the possibility of saving endangered species (presumably without needing to bother any more about saving their habitats) and, of course, about that perpetual journalistic concern, the propagation of hard-working families. Given the present self-effacing rarity of the human species on earth, what possible use could there be in a biological breakthrough with no potential to reform non-breeders?