A TRULY EMBRYONIC TECHNOLOGY

Arguments about cloning that frame the debate in terms of ethics and medicine [The Last Word, April/May 2002] distract attention from the economic forces that are driving the technologies. Cloning is, at its core, perhaps more about making money than about making babies; more about improving corporate bottom lines than about improving humans. The definitions of “health” and “success” associated with cloning will be solidly grounded in what scientific entrepreneurs believe will be profitable: the tests they can develop, the “clones” they can create, the characteristics they will claim to sell.

If we really care about healthy babies and women’s choices, we will work to create an environment in which women are able to mother all kinds of children in an inclusive, supportive world. We will not seek to help private industry turn reproduction into a commercial venture.

—Abby Lippman
Professor of Epidemiology
McGill University

Prof. Lee Silver calls cloning an advance, ignoring the negative ethical and social consequences. He doesn’t seem to be at all concerned that the science will be developed solely in the service of the well-to-do.

The U.S. infant-mortality rate is about 20th in the world, worse than in all other industrial democracies. The biomedical community cannot, of course, obtain lucrative patents on the low-tech methods for reducing deaths of existing infants in the country’s barrios, ghettos, and reservations. No opportunity for inflated profits there.

Instead, rich kids will get genes that prevent obesity so they can be spared the inconvenience of eating a balanced diet and getting some exercise.

Given that virtually all of these new reproductive techniques have been subsidized by public money, we need to get our priorities straightened out.

—Phil Bereano
Professor of Technology and Public Policy
University of Washington

STRAIGHTENED UP AND FLYING RIGHT

As a frequent traveler, I would reinforce Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Officer Leo Mullin’s assertion that the passenger wants and needs better information [“Straightened Up and Flying Right,” April/May 2002]. Although air travel has become more difficult following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, technology holds out the promise of reducing uncertainties and lessening the mysteries of delays. Technology can help restore the confidence of the passenger and make traveling easier.

—Michelle Nunn
President
CityCares

Mullin’s company has been an innovator in many different fields of technology over the years. Let’s not forget which U.S.-based major air carrier was first to see the opportunity in the then-unknown “regional jet.” Delta’s commuter airline, Comair, was the first to purchase Bombardier Aerospace’s Canadair Regional Jet, all the way back in mid-1991.

As a former consultant for a manufacturer of commercial aircraft maintenance software, I was able to see firsthand how Mullin and Delta used our software to let technicians tear down, repair, and return components to service without any paperwork. Delta was the first major carrier to purchase the software, back in 1999.

It’s pleasing to see a chief executive of a major air carrier recognize how information technology can be used to assist his company and, most importantly, his faithful passengers.

—Steven F. White
Evanston, IL