December's newspapers were dominated by stories about the Scott Peterson verdict, preëlection violence in Iraq, and, of course, the Indian Ocean tsunami. But one event barely made the front pages: Julie, a Dallas-area airline worker who withheld her last name, took ownership of a perfect genetic copy of her deceased cat Nicky. To create Little Nicky, Julie paid $50,000 to Sausalito, CA–based Genetic Savings and Clone (GSC) -- which says it will deliver at least four more cat clones to clients this year, and will also create the world's first dog clone (see "Genetic Savings and Clone: No Pet Project").

Dolly the sheep, the first mammalian clone to survive to adulthood, was born barely eight years ago. But much sooner than most people expected, society has entered the age of consumer-oriented cloning services. Ready or not, citizens must decide whether to resist this latest advance in consumer biotechnology or condone and assimilate it -- as they have the once controversial technique of in-vitro fertilization of human embryos.