That depends. You may wish to more or less know what you'll be getting, or to eliminate the risk of congenital disabilities. You might wish to propagate the genes of someone who has had no children in the conventional manner. You may want a specific type of offspring. Or you may not be able to reproduce sexually.

No. You can buy the genetic information that the person named Cindy Crawford is based on. Thanks to our reproductive cloning services, that genetic information -- the genotype -- will give rise to your child. But the baby thus born will not look, act, or sound like Cindy Crawford, even in adulthood. That's because it is not possible for you to raise your child in exactly the same time and environment as Cindy Crawford was raised in.

Genetic information is a bit like sheet music. You can have Zubin Mehta conduct a symphony orchestra and the tune will sound a certain way. At another time, with a different conductor and different instruments, the same music will sound different, despite being essentially the same.

Cloning extends your lifespan by exactly zero. The clone, when he/she grows up, will look like you, but will only be a copy in appearance (and even this can vary considerably, according to lifestyle). In any case, whatever happens to the clone will not affect you. You yourself will die, sooner or later, unless someone develops drugs to halt the aging process. If you wish to live forever, we recommend either religion or cryogenic suspension, not cloning. Think of cloning as "just another way of having babies."

If you don't wish you to go through the pains of giving birth, you can hire a surrogate birther via DreamTech. We have a roster of hundreds of women willing to give birth on your behalf -- since these women reside in economically depressed third-world countries, you'd even be making a significant contribution to the local economy.

Not in all countries. As our facilities are located in countries where cloning is sanctioned and encouraged by the local authorities, any cloning you entrust into our hands will be perfectly legal.

Quite the contrary; cloning is safer than conventional reproduction, because the resulting offspring is known to have no significant congenital (hereditary) birth defects.

Cloning is banned because of ignorance-driven hysteria -- hysteria is such a powerful force that it holds sway over government in almost all countries. Government decisions are not necessarily correct. Remember that the US government once banned interracial marriages, or the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Ignorant people often call cloning "a dangerous new technology" and liken it to nuclear technology. We fail to see how dropping a clone from a height of 30,000 ft can hurt anybody (except of course the clone).

If human beings do indeed have souls in a spiritual sense -- this depends on your metaphysical perspective -- then it follows that any clone, being a human being, will have a soul.

If "creation by God" refers to "procreation via sex between parents" (since the difference between clones and non-clones is whether or not the parents had sex) and sex is thus a prerequisite for the creation of a soul, then those born via in-vitro fertilization should also be considered soul-less -- a rather strange thought since some of the hundreds of thousands of test-tube babies born since 1978 have gone on to become priests, nuns, and soul musicians.

All we need is a tiny swab of cell tissue from the inside of your mouth, which is used to obtain the genetic material for producing an embryo with your DNA. If you are female, you have the option of being implanted with the embryo yourself, or hiring a surrogate birther.

The identity of all surrogate birthers is strictly confidential and cannot be revealed to anyone.

While we are aware of your concerns, rest assured that we subject all surrogate birthing candidates to rigorous physical examinations to ensure they are well qualified for their job. We also investigate candidates' lifestyles and families, and control the consumption of alcohol, drugs or nicotine during gestation.

Note that the term "surrogate mother" is not entirely correct, because whoever raises the child will be the mother (if you hire a nanny, whoever pays for the child-raising is the mother). The term "surrogate birther" is more accurate.

Cloned embryos do not become foetuses in vats - clones require gestation and birth just like other infants. Only the way in which the embryo was created differentiates clones from conventionally produced offspring.

We are, however, working on AGD (Artificial Gestation Device) technology. Check back in a few months and we might have it ready.

In-vitro fertilization involves taking an egg cell from a female, fertilizing it in the laboratory with sperm cells from a male, and thus creating an embryo. Hence the offspring is produced by sexual reproduction (even if no sexual intercourse takes place). The child inherits genetic material from both the mother and the father.

In cloning, meanwhile, the child is produced by asexual reproduction. The child inherits genetic material only from the original organism (also known as the "template").

Assuming no complications are discovered, we usually have the paperwork and embryo ready for implantation within three weeks of receiving your cell sample. Thereafter, you only have the usual 9-10 month pregnancy wait until the cloned infant is born.

Note, however, that the clone will never be a duplicate of yourself except, perhaps, in appearance, as enviroment strongly affects the development of character traits. Even appearance varies considerably according to the times and place one is brought up in.

All our surrogate birthing work takes place in countries with a liberated and pragmatic attitude towards cloning. Laws exist in each country (Costa Rica, Liberia, Vanuatu) to ensure that the person who finances the duplication and who will raise the child is allowed to legally and swiftly (5-6 days) adopt the newborn. Hence, the legal, as well as de facto, parent is whoever raises the clone child.

This varies from country to country. In the US, unless the clone child was born on US soil by a surrogate birther with US citizenship, the clone child will have to be naturalized, like an immigrant. Provided the adopting parent is a US citizen, naturalization usually takes around seven years. We are lobbying Congress to have this speeded up.

No, we can't publish those figures, but will willingly provide them to you if you sign a NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Note that you may also reach a deal for exclusive rights with a designer donor of your choosing. (But you had better be rich!)

In any case, the child will be unique even if all classmates happen to be clone children of the same design, because personal uniqueness is determined to a large extent by the experiences accumulated while growing up.

One purchases cloning services to obtain a child, not a slave to do one's bidding. If you use your child for domestic chores or other tasks, you will be committing a serious offence, namely the violation of your child's human rights.

And if your intention is anything except reproductive assistance, you will likely not pass our Credit and Suitability Screening Program, so you probably won't be able to obtain the clone in the first place.

This depends on the state of preservation. At DreamTech we always -- even in case of living gene donors -- run checks to verify the intactness of the DNA material, by comparing several samples.

If the cell material is older than a month and has not been preserved under ideal conditions, these checks are usually unsuccessful, due to chemical breakdown of DNA material.

Since only 100% accurate DNA material is acceptable for reproductive cloning, the longer the cell sample has been non-living, the smaller is the probability that we will be able to go ahead with the cloning process.

No, on the contrary, it will be much easier -- donor-parents of clones tend to identify much more strongly with their children, understand them better, and do a much better job at child-rearing.

The global population is 6 billion. Even if 500,000 people are cloned a year, that would still be less than 0.01 percent of the population. Gene pool diversity remains unaffected.

Cloning has already been carried out on a vast scale in horticulture since ancient times; for instance, as you can verify with the Encyclopedia Britannica "all individual Macintosh apple trees are members of a clone, having been derived initially from a single mutated plant, and all share identical genes."

Besides, since the cloned individuals possess traits that make cloning clients select those over the 6 billion available, cloning can be considered as a turbo-charged form of natural selection -- preponderant genes leave more descendants.

If you didn't believe in interfering with nature, you wouldn't see a doctor when you get ill, you wouldn't take any sort of pills, you wouldn't use contraceptives, and you would be living in the woods instead of surfing the web.

If God were opposed to reproductive assistance in the form of cloning technology, would God not have prevented DreamTech from coming into existence?

Moreover, pursuant to extensive discussions with spiritual leaders, we have good cause to believe that DreamTech's work does not violate the prescriptions of any major religion.

Furthermore, while DreamTech as an organization does not adhere to any particular religion, our Christian employees point out that DreamTech is in keeping with the Judeo-Christian tenet of "go forth and multiply."

We have never sold and will never sell a human. We sell reproductive cloning services. In other words, we help you have babies the non-sexual way. We do not have rosters of humans waiting to be sold. Each and every clone child we deliver is the result of a request by the parents-to-be (our customers).

No. If your child keeps running away, that's probably because you are doing a less-than-stellar job as a parent. We recommend you both go to family counseling with a trained specialist as soon as possible.

Certain designer genes are priced with projected revenues in mind.

You already see Cindy's face everywhere, on magazine covers, cosmetics ads, TV shows, film trailers, etc. Nothing will change. In any case, not all models will look like Cindy. We are currently in negotiation to obtain the rights for Naomi Campbell. And fresh talent is always breaking through.

Genetic material does not affect numerous aspects of a person's identity -- for example, how he/she talks, walks, reacts and generally acts. A lot of the Eastwood clones, meanwhile, are brought up with immense expectations and find themselves under considerable pressure. This often backfires, and the clones become sullen, overeating, hesitant, shy, and anti-social -- in short, not at all like the Clint Eastwood you know.

Note that, when you took delivery of the clone, you signed a waiver certifying that you knew you were purchasing the genetic design only. No cloning company in the world can guarantee the final outcome.

Our research revealed that Robert Redford was a problem child while growing up, due to a loose obedience gene. It would be unethical for us to promote a product we know to have little chance of providing customer satisfaction. All designer donors on our roster are reported to have been, on the whole, likeable as children.