You Can Purchase Your Surname But You Can Not Purchase Your Genes. Can You ?

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing s constitution is as ignoble as his name; he is not an "Estaing" at all! That title belongs to someone else. Admiral d'Estaing helped the American Revolution, and he has a plaque on Tremont Street in Boston. He died without any male descendant! The name was probably for purchase with some estate (in France, it is quite legal when buying a property, which belonged to a dead previous owner with a title, to buy the title as well).

THE NEW AMERICAN, June 27 COPYRIGHT 2005 American Opinion Publishing, Inc.

One can buy family surnames such as, d'Estaing or royalty prefixes such as von, van, D'. You can even become a president with a purchased name.

Is it also possible to purchase genes, especially good genes ? In vitro fertilization is a common practice. After fertilization at the 8 cell stage of the embryo one can isolate a single cell out of 8 cells and determine whether the embryo is going to be a male or a female. Although, illegal it is practised in some parts of the world and if the embryo is a male it (remaining 7 cells) is placed back to womb and discarded if it (remaining 7 cells) is a female embryo. With that technology it might also be possible to inject purchased gene cocktails of interest into the pre-implantation cells. If not regulated carefully this might lead to a big industry. Ethical, legal and social issues might be accessory factors next to a big industry.

21st century is mind blowing. I just wanted to re-mind that.