Cloning update

>> Raëlian researcher reports on the progress
of the effort to create a human photocopy

by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

Since speaking along with other Raëlians in front of the U.S. Senate Committee, former Montrealer and Raëlian scientist Brigitte Boisselier has taken her lab into hiding where she reports to have made inroads in the effort to create the world’s first clone. The Mirror tracked down the researcher last week to a hotel in Venice Beach, California, for the following gabfest.

Mirror: Where are you guys?
Brigitte Boisselier: I can’t give details on where our lab is. I also can’t give precise data about any of our operations, like the numbers of attempted pregnancies or when we’ll have results.

M: So when should we expect a clone baby?
BB: The last time I gave a date was a year ago, when I was asked at Congress when a clone would be produced and I replied that if everything goes right, it should be April 2002. But after I said that, a lot of federal agents started visiting and they started interrupting our work and asking a lot of questions. Those delays set us back, so now I hesitate. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came in the lab many times and they told us that they had jurisdiction over our activities. They said they believed our activities were illegal. I consulted my lawyer and he certified that there’s nothing illegal about what we were doing because there’s no law against cloning. This wasted a lot of time from April to July. Instead of spending a lot of money going to court and proving that the FDA has no jurisdiction over our activities, we moved our lab outside of the U.S.

M: Was it because the Raëlian cloning effort left Congress unimpressed?
BB: That’s not the way I see it. I think the invitation they offered to speak before Congress was an attempt to make us look like nuts and I think they failed to do so. I think our appearance was a success. I didn’t expect anything from the government hearings, but one year later the Senate still hasn’t decided to ban cloning. So in the long term, I don’t think that we did so badly.

Baby fusion

M: How do you respond to those who don’t take you seriously because you haven’t published your results in any medical journal?
BB: We’re going to a bioconference in Tokyo on July 11, where we’ll show videos and other research, including the fusion technique that we’ve perfected. It’s basically a cloning machine that involves inserting DNA and then giving a minor shock. It’s good and efficient. We’ll be explaining the whole thing. Some of this is on our site.

M: Do other scientists respect you?
BB: It varies according to cultures. The Europeans will look unfavourably on me and even refuse to talk to me. But in the States I get invited to speak at all sorts of conferences. There are a lot of concerned people who want to help and make sure we do well, because if there were the slightest problem in cloning a child, there’d be a big backlash against the whole project. So we have some degree of solidarity down here.

M: Is the world ready for cloning?
BB: When I started researching a few years ago there was general opposition. Everybody said that it’s improper, unethical and goes against human dignity, although they never really elaborated their problems with it. I knew that was an irrational reaction based on some sort of Hollywood-fed view. Making a clone this way is just a result of a series of rational decisions. What’s the problem in obtaining a child in this way? I don’t see why we should stop the process. I’m a scientist with a Raëlian point of view, and I believe that all science is good as long as it’s examined with the conscience. I get all these people calling, saying, “I want to clone somebody,” for several reasons—infertility, recreating a lost child or some other close individual. They want access to these services. I’ve seen so many that want it so bad that helping these people has become my primary motivation.

In a family way

M: Is it true that 50 women have volunteered to carry the clone baby?
BB: Yes, there were even more than 50. But they weren’t all accepted. Some were too old or had delicate health. So it’s less than that.

M: And your daughter is among them?
BB: Yes, my daughter Marina volunteered to carry the child. I’m absolutely involved in that yes.

M: How did you end up in Montreal?
BB: I lived in Montreal for a year while I taught in Plattsburgh. I commuted there from Montreal every day. Before that, I come from France. I moved from there because France can’t exactly be classified as a society that values freedom.

M: Is this all about money?
BB: My main goal is that the technique be developed correctly and be available for a majority of people. In the context of what we’re doing, we can’t do the research without money. So I have investors who wanted to give me the operating funds, they didn’t give me that money just because I have beautiful eyes. They want a return on their investment, but my concern is that it be well done on the scientific angle and well managed so the maximum number of people can have access to it.

M: Do you have customers?
BB: We’ve taken a lot of cell samples now. In fact, we have a person who travels all the time around the world taking cell samples from people around the world who are dying or about to die. He’s gotten hundreds from around the world.

Cloning’s intellectual treasure trove

M: Have you personally learned much from your efforts?
BB: On the scientific side, yeah, there’s a lot of learning. I think when it comes out in a year or two it will really explode. The things we’re discovering now are really extraordinary. I’m learning the science but also learning about the limits people want to put on progress. But I’m happy to see how mentalities have evolved towards cloning. Just recently, the Washington Post suggested that in the case of certain deaths, cloning should be an available option. It’s really the first time we’re seeing things like that in print and it’s really encouraging.

M: What’s your scientific background?
BB: I have a Ph.D. in chemistry from France. After that I worked for Liquid Air for seven years and was the director of research, developing programs, organizing research—that helped me develop my skills.

M: Do you still have a Montreal connection?
BB: I love Montreal and still have many friends there. Marina lived there until recently and I have many Raëlian supporters there now. I am a Raëlian and have been one since 1993. I really enjoy going to the monthly meetings at the Gesù on the third Sunday of every month at 11 a.m. I go whenever I am able.

M: Every think about cloning yourself?
BB: Well, I already have three children, so I don’t think so. But if I were one of those parents who lost a child, I’d certainly think about it.

Making money

M: Let’s say I got a skin sample from Shaquille O’Neal or some other amazing athlete. Could I bring it to you to make a clone in the aim of cashing in off his future athletic success?
BB: We take the cell sample in the lab by ourselves, so the person to be cloned would have to physically be here. We need a quality sample.

M: Okay, but say somebody slept with Tom Cruise and in the passion of the moment managed to scratch his back and got a lot of his skin under their fingernails. What if they showed up with that so they could clone him?
BB: It might work theoretically, but it might be difficult to distinguish which is his skin under the nails and which is yours. But we do have a code of ethics that we practice in our lab. Another factor is that we’re working with living cells, we’re working on being able to create clones from the dead. We’re working on tissues from dead people. It’s more complicated to do it with a dead person because after death, the cells all start dying. It gets more complicated, because the DNA in the cell is reduced from that point on.

M: Whatever happened to that businessman we always heard about who had offered you big money to clone his daughter?
BB: Yes, that person was with us from the start, but when the publicity started, it scared him off. Now one of our big investors is an older person who has a bad sickness and wants to be cloned before his death. Those are the first cells we’re working on.

M: When are we going to get to transplant our brains into clone bodies?
BB: It’s not possible now, but maybe it will be within 25 to 30 years. It all depends on scientific advances, but it’s not that far-fetched.

M: Do you ever doubt what you’re doing?
BB: I think about these things all the time since I started doing this in 1997. I don’t see how it could be considered bad to clone a child that was lost. I don’t see why it should bother society. There are so many scientists that make weapons and bombs that kill children everywhere. When I look in the mirror I have no reason to be less satisfied than them. :