The mystery of creation, which took nature hundreds of millions of years, may now be accomplished by Man within five years. A leading genetics researcher has worked out the process to create a synthetic bacterium.
Scientists say it is only a short step to the creation of much more complex lifeforms.
It raises the prospect of humans ultimately being able to create new species of plants and animals. The production of a written blueprint for creating a synthetic organism so rapidly will confound sceptics. It will make human beings the creators of other living forms far sooner than expected, possibly just a few years into the new millennium. The blueprint is now being submitted to the prestigious journal Science and will astound the world of genetic research. The ethics expert, a world authority on the new genetic sciences, has called for a measured response to the breakthrough, which will renew the debate surrounding genetic engineering.