Playing God?

Was looking up a BPO by the name of Genpact on the internet, and, my search threw up something so bizzarre that I was left astonished at what I was reading! Sometimes, I suspect, human being were better off as cavemen, at least you could find a justification for things they did, cos they knew no better...


A company called Bio-Genica, has designed these creatures called Genpets, using a process called "Zygote Micro Injection" that combines DNA strains from different species.



As per the company's website (http://www.genpets.com/index.php) "The Genpets™ are Pre-Packaged, Bioengineered pets implemented today!" Yup, they are not toys but living, breathing genetic animals!

Each creature comes pre-packd in special plastic packaging and is equipped with a fully functional heart rate monitor and Fresh Strip to gauge the state of each pet while it lies in its hibernation state.
The Genpets are colour coded depedning on the personality type, and each personality displays a different emotion, ugh! You can determine the life of the pet by choosing a 1 year or a 3 year pet. Of course, should your child get bored before the "expiry" of the pet, you can always stop the nutrients, and, the pet would die.

Are we playing God? Creating and manipulating life? Determining when and how much a creature can live? Much as I am in awe of the human mind, its ability to think, fathom, decipher, imagine, create and much as I beleive that science and technology has done much to improve the qaulity of our life, this to me seems a little strange.

I don't know, maybe I am overreacting, but to me, giving a young child a live creature over whose life and death, the child has absolute control, creates the danger of the child having little or no respect for the value of a life.