Have patience. Cosmetic usage of genetic engineering is now on its way to save us all, both inside and out. Human enhancements? Golly. That's what the scientists are calling their immanent plans to introduce major bodily improvements on the often-inept works of Mother Nature.

Some are horrified by this uncanny prospect, just as hordes are aghast at the thought of soon-to-be-real human cloning. They'll just have to buckle their seat belts, however, because its going to be a bumpy ride into the 21^st Century where—everywhere-- genetic grooming will be booming.

W. French Anderson, a professor of biochemistry and pediatrics at the University of Southern California, says "It's going to happen and nobody can stop it." That's another catch phrase to which a surprised citizenry must get accustomed. It's going to happen. Get used to it! If adding genes to a person's cells, or disallowing genes already present in the body sounds like a Frankenstein script, complaining won't help.

Dr. Anderson has already shown effective use of genetics in the suppression and control of disease. The same techniques, he points out, can be used for non-medical purposes. Muscle growth or hair growth, for example.

September saw yet another conference uselessly examining the ethics of improving individual bodies through genetics, this one delivering its reputed wisdom to The National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Keeping an eye on genetic research, the conference concluded, will expose cosmetic uses in experiments intended only for medical ones. No recommendations have yet been made to ban such "enhancement" research, but it is believed that if it happens, the media will cause such a ruckus that banning will be inevitable.

The White House has made no comment on how it intends to respond to the conference's thoughts because they haven't as yet been formally presented.

It is expected that cosmetic genetics will burst into the news media in late October when Sony Pictures releases GATTACA, a fantasy film set in the future at a time when genetic engineering is commonplace. The title is a string of letters from the genetic code.

In this forthcoming movie, persons lacking socially approved perfection will be those who cannot afford it. As a result, they will suffer widespread discrimination and abuse, becoming a new majority-minority: the inappropriately ugly, the stupid, the bald and the malformed.

In spite of this intriguing plot, specialists in genetic engineering say the manipulation of intelligence and personality traits remains a far distant dream, one that may never find a place in the real world. Such traits, they claim, require a better understanding than they now have of how genes and cells actually function. Some of the scientists at the aforementioned conference admitted they have no idea why genetic engineering itself works.

Among accomplishments on the horizon, however, are methods to bypass cardiac surgery by fostering—through gene additions—the growth of blood vessels in heart tissues. Some are toying with the idea of adding such vessels to athletic muscles as well; allowing sports figures additional strengths.

If this were to occur, masculine or feminine vitality would become subject to a new kind of gender-bending. Women who are military recruits could find themselves out-distancing male runners or male push-up artists.

Women and gay men seeking relationships with macho men who flaunt conventional masculine powers might be faced with an unnerving new question: was this guy once a 90- pound weakling? Has the latest in cosmetic genetic surgery simply transformed him into a phony dreamboat?