David Noble's interview that I posted yesterday addressed this issue:
Dec. 18, 2002. 11:31 PM
Quebec sect claims human clone near birth: CTV
Experts say claim possibly true, but call project 'highly irresponsible'
FROM CANADIAN PRESS
A Quebec-based religious sect claims it will deliver the first human clone within 14 days, CTV News reported today.
The Raelians, who set up a human cloning company called Clonaid and began offering a cloning machine for sale last May, say the cloned baby - a girl
- will be born before the end of the month, CTV reported.
The director of Clonaid, Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, told CTV they had implanted 10 clone embryos this spring.
Boisselier said five miscarried but the other five are "doing well," the network reported.
The baby, said to be the genetic duplicate of a American woman in her 30s, will reportedly be born by Caesarean section at an undisclosed facility.
The Raelian Movement was founded in France by Rael, who was once a French racing-car driver known at Claude Vorilhon, who claimed he was
contacted by an extraterrestrial on Dec. 13, 1973.
The extraterrestrial told Rael he was a clone of the supreme extraterrestrial being and prophets including Jesus and Mohammed.
The group claims to have 55,000 members in 84 countries.
Some experts say it's possible that the Raelian claim is true.
"It has been possible after many many attempts to clone other mammalian species ... there's no reason to think a human being would be very different
from other mammals," said Prof. Lawrence Smith of the University of Montreal.
"It is certainly possible that they have accomplished what they claim to have accomplished," Princeton professor Lee Silver told CTV.
But Silver said the Raelians must prove it by showing that a DNA sample from the baby is identical to that of the woman.
Cloning experiments have produced numerous deformed and dead animals other experts warn.
"These people who claim to clone humans - first of all they are highly irresponsible and if they do it they will produce abnormal cloned humans,"
warned Prof. Rudolf Jaenisch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Patricia Baird , who headed the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies more than a decade ago, has said cloning cells to produce a
live organism or cloning to produce cells is ethically wrong.
Reproductive cloning of cows, sheep, pigs and mice has resulted in countless physical and developmental problems and less than three per cent of all
cloning efforts have resulted in live births, she said.
"Human reproduction cloning is unlikely to be safe in the foreseeable future," Baird said.
"It controls the production of human beings in an unprecedented way," she said. "It opens up the possibility of genetic engineering on humans."
Baird said numerous European countries and Australia have banned reproductive cloning and similar legislation has been proposed in Canada but not
approved.
Nadine Gary, a spokeswoman for the Raelians, would not confirm the reports on today.
"I cannot make any announcements because it's so late, it's impossible to reach Dr. Boisselier," Gary said from Las Vegas, Nev.
"I cannot make any announcements right now. The speaker for all of our research and all of the latest developments would be Dr. Boisselier and I'm
not at ease saying anything. I would be very happy to arrange an interview, but not to speak on her behalf.
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- [Futurework] FWD: First human clone due soon: Raelians Brian McAndrews
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