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CNN Saturday Morning News

Raelian Researchers Hope to Clone Humans

Aired June 30, 2001 - 09:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Big news on the human cloning front to tell you about this morning. A research laboratory claims the government has told it to stop its work to produce a human clone, but its research director says the cloning will continue, just in another country.

She is Brigitte Boisselier, a French biochemist and the chief scientist for the Clonaid laboratory. She joins us from Washington.

Good morning, and thank you for being with us, Dr. Boisselier.

BRIGITTE BOISSELIER, RAELIAN MOVEMENT: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: First of all, if you could just tell us how far along you are in your research.

BOISSELIER: Well, I will not answer that question. I will not tell you where we are. The only thing I will tell is that when the baby is born, you will know for sure.

O'BRIEN: Well, can you give us some insight into some of the difficulties you've been facing in the laboratory as you attempt to do this really difficult effort, I'm certain?

BOISSELIER: Well, it's funny, because I expected some scientific problems, but I had more federal problems, which I should say, since the FDA indeed found us, and they visited us. They visited a lot of my friends. And so they have been doing investigation on us, yes.

O'BRIEN: Well, tell me about the jurisdiction here. It's not exactly clear, by my read, that the federal government has jurisdiction over this particular procedure. It's not spelled out. I think the law is a little bit behind the science, as is often the case. Why don't you stay and fight?

BOISSELIER: Well, to prove that the FDA has no jurisdiction, I should go to a federal court, and so this is time, this is energy, this is money. And I want to concentrate my time, my energy, and my money on the science. I want to do good science. I want to prove that having a baby through cloning technology is safe, and that I could help a lot of parents and a lot of individuals who'd like to be cloned that way and would like to have a baby that way.

So that's my goal, and that's what I am doing. Now, I don't exclude that I may go to federal court, but my main concern is to proceed, and in a very peaceful and safe environment. So we will keep the lab that we have here in the United States to do all the development that are perfectly legal and that, you know, the FDA will not be able to say anything about that.

And we are setting up a lab in another country where it's legal to do the final step, I mean, the human cell nucleus transfer.

O'BRIEN: Give us some insight into your goal here. Is this tantamount to a scientific stunt to prove you can do it, or do you have some other motive here?

BOISSELIER: Well, my motivation, I have several sources. Of course I'm a scientist, and as a scientist, it's very difficult for me to accept that prohibition can regulate science. We all know that with science, we can do the best and the worst, depending on the consciousness behind, but prohibition is not a way to regulate. It's like cutting the hand in fears that you may hurt me.

Today, governments all over the world are cutting the hands and cutting the brain of the scientists, telling them not to do that. I pretend (ph) that it is safe to do this human cloning, and it will help for the therapeutic cloning, a lot of people who have severe disease, and it will help a few individuals who would like to have a baby that way.

So my motivation is to help those people as a scientist to prove that this is possible. And it's true that I have another philosophy. My philosophy is to say, my religion, actually, is science. I'm a Raelian, and as such I knew from a long time ago that cloning is possible. And that's why I was prepared to that in 1997, when Dolly appeared. And that's why I was probably one of the few scientists saying, this is safe to do it, and it will help a lot humanity.

O'BRIEN: Could you sort of succinctly explain why -- what the religious motivation is in all this, as a Raelian?

BOISSELIER: Well, to do that, I should explain what is the Raelian philosophy. We believe that instead of having been created by an almighty God that nobody ever seen, or being -- instead of evolution theory, saying that we mutate and mutated until we got that very sophisticated species all over the world, I believe that we indeed have been created by intelligent beings.

So -- and those beings coming from the space, from somewhere else, OK? So I know that usually people are at -- a little smile, and say, Well, she's crazy thinking about that. But look, the government is paying millions to listen to a voice out there, so they also believe about that, you know?

O'BRIEN: Dr. Boisselier, there is a certain snicker factor to all of this, and you must admit you're on the fringes of science. How do you respond to the nine out of 10 Americans, probably the nine out of 10 scientists, who say this is not a valid effort, and really is fraught with ethical peril? BOISSELIER: Well, it's true, we could talk at length with the ethics about that. It's true, as a Raelian, I have a different ethics. But, you know, my ethical view about that is to say, it's true that we shouldn't abuse about -- of cloning. For example, if you like your neighbor, you shouldn't be allowed to take the cells of your neighbor and use that to clone her without -- or him without his consent.

And so we shouldn't be allowed to use the -- you know, the human genes that are not ours. But we should have the freedom to use our own genes the way we want. So that's what I've been pushing, you know, no prohibition on science, regulations that are safe for everybody, but not prohibition...

O'BRIEN: Dr. Boisselier, do you feel like a scientific pariah, though?

BOISSELIER: I'm sorry, I didn't hear it.

O'BRIEN: Do you feel like a scientific pariah?

BOISSELIER: I don't know how to answer that. I do what I think is best with my consciousness. I'm trying to do very good science. I'm trying to be respectful of the law I'm living in. I've been very open from the beginning, saying, I'm doing it, I'm doing it in the United States. People didn't know if -- now that the FDA found us, certainly belatedly, but I'm telling you that I have thousands of people behind me, a lot of parents to be, a lot of individuals who'd like to be cloned.

It's very tough to say, yes, I'm pro-cloning, and so that's why they are not public now. But I'm telling you there are a lot.

So if it's impossible to do it here, we will do it abroad, and we will move on and move on. But this will happen. The only thing I can guarantee is that I want a very healthy baby, and I'll do all I can so that this very healthy baby is presented to you soon.

O'BRIEN: Brigitte Boisselier is the chief science for a company called Clonaid, affiliated with the Raelian religious movement. Thank you very much for being with us out of Washington this morning. We appreciate your time...

BOISSELIER: Thank you for your consideration.

O'BRIEN: ... on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

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