Sin-thetic

Sir—I was disturbed to read the article in Salient on "The Morality of Test-tube ies". The author identified only as the Science Editor hadn't the courage to sign his or her name to it, and was not mentioned in the list of Salient Staff.

The heading to the article was most misleading promising a discussion on the morality of cultivating test tube life. In fact only one paragraph dealt with the morality of test tube babies and this was short and of a scientific nature.

While I do not doubt the accuracy and sincerity of this article, I feel it is wrong to discuss such a subject as though it was a foregone conclusion. We have by no means established that life can be made in test tubes. Too often these predictions are masked in a scientific cloak as an attempt to disguise an argument which is either specious or very weak.

[Andy Easton's name, as Science Editor has been left off the staff list in error. I feel the problem can legitimately be discussed even though its urgency is not dire—ed.]