But there are some rough spots, too. Breast cancer genetic testing, for example, is a growing industry. Once the project is completed, people will be able to get blueprints of their genetic makeup. The project is well under way, and it will be completed, and only now are ethicists starting to ask the questions that should have been debated before the project started. Some insurance companies want to consider your genetic risk as a pre-existing condition, equivalent to having heart disease or cancer, and to deny you coverage or raise your premiums accordingly.
Genetic makeup is only one part of what gives a person individuality.
And a great part of our identities comes from our reactions to the choices we have and the decisions we make. Diversity within a species is essential for survival. You could genetically engineer corn, for example, so that you had only one variety, the best corn possible. To get the one successful sheep clone, Wilmut's team fertilized 277 eggs. One quarter of the sheep lived just long enough to be born, and another quarter died within days of birth.