Brigitte Boisselier the CEO of “Clonaid” and a bishop within the “cult” group called the “Raelians” announced this morning at a news conference in Hollywood, Florida that the first human clone has been born. And it was covered live by CNN.
Artist and pop icon Andy Warhol once said a day would come when everyone would have “15 minutes” of fame, but CNN decided to give Boisselier 30 uninterrupted minutes of exclusive coverage.
The Clonaid spokeswoman was often defensive regarding media reports that have frequently questioned her reliability and any claims made by the group about its cloning experiments.
The Roslin Institute who cloned the first mammal reported massive failure rates and unexplained abnormalities. They have said only 1% of their cloned embryos even developed into living offspring and many died late in pregnancy or soon after birth.
Never mind. Boisselier claims a stunning 50% success rate on Clonaid’s first ten implantations. And a successful first time birth for her Christmas clone.
Despite her position as CEO of Clonaid and the media description that she is a “scientist” Boisselier is not a medical doctor or a geneticist and is a “bishop” within the Raelian Church. The cleric did once teach chemistry at Hamilton College in upstate New York.
Boisselier stood at a podium alone. No baby, no parents and not even a single scientist from the supposed Clonaid “team” was there to corroborate any of her claims. She said that Clonaid scientists and the parents were not yet ready to face the public.
It must have been a slow news day for CNN.
The Cloning company CEO also said, “The Parents may have to go to some secret location depending upon how you treat them.”
The alleged clone is a baby girl named “Eve” and supposedly weighs 7 pounds. She is supposedly the clone of her 31-year-old American mother. The baby was born in an as of yet unidentified country, which Boisselier refused to identify.
The Clonaid spokeswoman stated, “There will be proof” and then introduced Michael Guillen. Guillen who is not a medical doctor came forward at the news conference. He identified himself as a “free lance journalist,” Ph.D. physicist and former employee of ABC News. Guillen then advised that it would be his unpaid task to coordinate an independent team of “world class” scientists to verify Clonaid’s claims.
Members of that scientific team were not identified at the news conference.
Guillen said it would take a week to conclude testing, but Boisselier added later that it might require 9 days.
The Raelian bishop and Clonaid CEO thanked her “spiritual leader” Claude Vorilhon known as “Rael.” She said though that he is not involved personally with Clonaid, which was established in 1997. But Boisselier said it was his “leadership” and apparent inspiration that launched the project.
“Rael” and his Raelians believe that the human race is the result of alien science. And Boisselier acknowledged that belief during her press conference.
Vorilhon also claims that he has met alien beings from outer space that transported the future “cult” leader to another planet, where he was formally introduced to both Jesus and Buddha.
Boisselier, who is French, said that a court in France revoked her child custody largely due to her commitment to Rael.
According to the Clonaid spokeswoman four more mothers are now carrying clones. One is in Northern Europe, two are of Asian origin and yet another is North American. None are Raelians, Boisselier said.
The Clonaid CEO says those currently involved in cloning experiments have not paid for their participation, but admitted that they had all invested in Clonaid, which is a private company.
20 more implantations are supposedly scheduled for January, but Boisselier offered no further details. She also said that Clonaid plans to open more “clinics” around the world and that there are thousands waiting to become its customers.
The next cloned baby is allegedly due in a week and the remaining 3 will be delivered by February. Again, an astonishing success rate if it can ever be verified independently.
Is all this real or another Raelian publicity stunt?
Claude Vorilhon or “Rael” seems to have an insatiable desire for ego gratification through media attention.
His first sensational claim was that he was raising money for an “embassy” to greet visitors from out space, which brought him a few interviews. Then it was cloning. More recently his group encouraged cross burning in Canada to protest the Catholic Church.
Given the “race car driver’s” seeming addiction to media coverage the whole cloning process looks like just another publicity ploy to gain attention.
However this story ends up one thing will remain real for Rael. The “cult” leader has succeeded once again in extending his own “15 minutes,” and probably confirming his worldwide importance to faithful Raelians.
It also seems likely that the Raelians will soon come up with any number of excuses, rationalizations and/or fantastic stories to explain the failure of any credible scientists to independently verify their cloning claims.
Perhaps then cloning, like Rael’s outer space travel, will become part of the group’s religious mythology.
Maybe then Boisselier will have another news conference to announce that a “conspiracy” to suppress “science” and discredit her “spiritual leader” has taken place.
However, the “bishop”/CEO might just have a harder time getting CNN live coverage for that pronouncement, unless of course it’s a slow news cycle or a crucial ratings period.
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