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The Raelians are a bad Vonnegut book The (Eugene) Register-Guard Dec. 31 Just in time for the New Year's lull, the world seems to have stumbled into a Kurt Vonnegut novel: A group called the Raelians, who believe extraterrestrials created life on Earth, established a company that claims to have produced the first human clone. But while a Vonnegut tale offers instructive entertainment, the Raelians' story could have damaging consequences for medical technology. The announcement came Friday from Brigitte Boisselier, chief executive of Clonaid, a Bahamas-based company set up by the Raelians for the purpose of cloning a human being. Boisselier said a 31-year-old American woman had given birth to a healthy 7-pound baby girl, nicknamed Eve, who is a genetic duplicate of her mother. In other words, mother and daughter are identical twins. Eve and her mother - sister? - were due to arrive in the United States on Monday. Boisselier said DNA tests would confirm her claim within a few weeks. In the meantime, geneticists are skeptical. Seven animal species have been cloned since Dolly the sheep was cloned six years ago, and in many cases serious problems have arisen. Only 1 percent to 5 percent of cloning attempts succeed. Some clones have been born with serious medical problems. Researchers have made 300 failed attempts to clone monkeys, producing embryos with a variety of grotesque abnormalities. A look at the Raelians does not increase confidence in Boisselier's claim. The sect was founded 30 years ago by a former French auto racing journalist named Claude Vorilhon, who says extraterrestrials contacted him and gave him the name Rael. These beings, the Elohim, created all life on Earth 25,000 years ago and are the basis of all world religions, Rael says. As soon as the human race attains a sufficiently high degree of consciousness, the Elohim will come to an embassy being prepared for them by Raelians. As part of the effort to raise human consciousness, the Raelians believe they must deliver their message to as many people as possible. There are ways for such groups to draw attention to themselves: Web sites, publications and making headline-grabbing claims about human clones. Still, it's possible that a group like the Raelians, given enough money and zeal, could assemble the scientific talent required for a successful cloning project. The knowledge and techniques are well-understood. And even if the Raelian announcement turns out to be a fraud, the next attempt might not - several scientists say they have human cloning projects under way. The prospect of human cloning is troubling, for a variety of reasons. At this stage of the technology's development, cloning would be an ego trip for people wealthy enough to make genetic copies of themselves or of loved ones. Rael has bigger things in mind: "Cloning a baby is just the first step," he told The New York Times. "I want to give human beings eternal life." Such talk alarms U.S. lawmakers, who are already scrambling to revive anti-cloning legislation that died in the last session of Congress. The proposal would have banned not only reproductive cloning of the type the Raelians are pursuing, but also therapeutic cloning. Therapeutic cloning seeks not to create a new human being, but cells that could be used in the treatment of disease. The National Academy of Sciences supports a ban on the former type of cloning but not the latter. In the rush to react to the Raelians, Congress may ban both. If Eve proves to be her mother's twin, the world will have a new set of ethical questions to wrestle with. Indeed, it would be a good idea to begin wrestling with those questions now. One way to begin would be with a resolution to avoid being stampeded in any direction by an exotic, agenda-driven sect. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -