Gene control
The Western Producer had an intriguing story Oct. 16 about discovery by New Zealand scientists of the gene that makes men grow bigger than women.
Dick Wilkins at Ruakara and Waikato University says the farm sector could use this discovery to govern fibre, fatness and leanness of animals.
The heck with bigger and leaner Maine-Anjou, what interested me was the spin this could put on the battle of the sexes. It may be possible to produce women seven feet tall and built in proportion. They would be able to look down their noses at the vast majority of men who sit around board tables.
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Mind you, they wouldn’t be able to buy their trench coats and chemises off the rack at the department store and their shoes would take half a steer hide to manufacture.
The gene is called STAT5b and it should get as much attention as the cloning of that Scottish sheep. It is one more development on the road to genetically engineering the perfect human being.
It will still be several years of experimenting before science has perfected the process. First they have to determine if the world needs an army of Amazons. Then researchers could go on to produce bigger female mice, rats and monkeys.
About the time they’re ready for implanting these genes in humans, the economy will take another turn-down and down-sizing will scuttle the project.
If this dismays you, remember Lloyd George’s contention: The value of a person should be measured by what’s between the ears, not the distance from heels to head.
