Although recently, hope was expressed for recovering the thylacine from several alcohol-preserved specimens using genetic engineering technology, this isn't going to happen for a long time, if ever. What many consider even worse is the unwritten list of extinct species, certainly including various plants and invertebrate animals that have never been described. The lost potential of these species is immeasurable. While rainforests continue to be cleared and countries compete for world markets, the spectre of genetic engineering looms increasingly large. While the natural genetic library is being purged, an unnatural one is being forged in various world laboratories.
Many countries oppose the technology, but others are rushing into it because of potential profit.
Some are even attempting to patent sequences of DNA that enable manufacture of specific substances. Patenting of naturally occurring compounds is presently being opposed on ethical grounds. The technology itself though, promises to do amazing things for agricultural productivity and medicine, yet it poses many significant hazards. Changes to this must only occur as the result of natural processes. Many are even apprehensive about the mapping of the human genome, since it will offer knowledge about things that possibly should remain unknown.