Concerns of Cosmetic Ethicists

From Mountain of Black Glass (Otherland, Volume 3)

Concerns of Cosmetic Ethicists

(visual: young man with twelve fingers)

VO: The World Association of Cosmetic Surgeons, meeting for their annual conference in Monte Carlo, find themselves with a bit more on their hands than usual. Cosmetic generation, an offshoot of stem-cell technology advancements, has been a fad among the rebellious young for several years, but recent advances now permit not just the generation of extra digits, but the actual addition of limbs and even nonhumanoid features such as tails.

(visual: artist's rendition of Goggleboy with dorsal fin and horns)

VO: Some surgeons and bioethicists worry that teenage fads are not the real problem.

(visual: Doctor Lorelei Schneider speaking at conference)

SCHNEIDER: ". . . We are already receiving troubling reports from some of the poorer parts of the world that manual laborers are being pressured to undergo limb-augmentation—to have not just extra digits generated, but extra hands and even arms. Those who refuse are less able to compete in a very, very tight market. . . ."