Subject: Preserving your DNA
Date: Febuary 2, 2009
From: Flash Light
To: Dr. Chic Schissel

Dr. Schissel:

I ran into John Rafferty at a party. I mentioned that I had not received objections to the course we had discussed. John concurred that neither had he. I suggested we should go forward with your agreement that we preserve a DNA sample from you in the hope you might be the first atheist resurrected from the dead by means of genetic engineering. He not only agreed, but seemed to suggest he was also interested in having his DNA preserved.

It appears the next issues are the practical ones: which DNA preservation service should we go with? If you have a preference, I would naturally defer to your desires. Otherwise the wisest course is probably to use more than one service, in the hope that at least one of them gets it right.

There appear to be several approaches. For example, one approach involves freezing a blood sample. However, a simpler approach involves taking a cheek swab, which is then dried and preserved by the DNA preservation company, so it can be stored at room temperature. This technique is offered by at least two companies: DNA Direct (dnadirect.com) and Biomatrica ( biomatrica.com).

DNA Direct offers to provide three preserved specimens for the sum of $225. As a starting point, I would gladly pay that fee, and suggest that for safety we store the specimens in three separate places. I would gladly retain one specimen; perhaps John might be interested in holding the second, and maybe someone you're close to (a friend or relative) would want to hold the third. If further, for example, you wanted to preserve John's DNA, or John wanted to preserve mine, that could make the arrangement even more interesting.

Obviously numerous legal issues are involved. The larger ones involve gaining the legal right to create a clone from the preserved DNA. However, there are also numerous subtle issues: if three people hold copies of your DNA, who has the right to clone you, if the legal right is granted? Who has the right to raise the clone? It appears we should seek legal council early on in this process. Again, if you have a preference pertaining to council, I would naturally defer to your desires.

Please let me know your thoughts as to how we might proceed to change the course of history.

Peace,

Flash