Commentary: Can I be Cloned?

Aug. 8, 2001 -- I'm close to being hooked. Maybe I want to be cloned.

Thanks to this week's auspicious meeting in Washington organized by the National Academy of Sciences, I now can even look forward to having my memory and personality transferred into my cloned brain. Then I will live forever.

I'm extremely hopeful because of what three rather intriguing scientists who sat and presented together had to say about cloning. Let's start with the one who, for one reason or another, didn't get so much media attention. That was Brigitte Boisselier. She's a scientist and also actually a "bishop" with a group named the Raelian Movement.

Experts argue for and against cloning for "therapeutic" purposes.

Message Board: Join the debate over therapeutic cloning.

Now, stay with me because this story is highly instructive. The Raelians, some 55,000 strong and found in 84 countries, believe that we Earthlings were created by very advanced alien scientists who understood the ins and outs of DNA.

'There Never Was a God'

This is known because in December 1973, Claude Vorilhon, a journalist, was visited by a 4-foot-tall extraterrestrial (with almond-shaped eyes and exuding warmth and a sense of humor) who explained the whole creation-shebang.

If you're still with me, that means there never was a "God." The aliens brought us "scientific creationism."

Apparently, the resurrection of Jesus was also a major cloning event. Vorilhon, who now calls himself "Rael" and the "Pope" of the Raelians, thinks it is high time to give cloning a break. This will undoubtedly impress our Creators and they'll want to come back and visit with us. This is why Rael wants to build an "embassy" where the encounter will take place.

Rael enlisted Boisselier to take on the cloning project, which she says is already underway. Mind you, a lot of this is hush-hush. A fully-equipped secret lab. A secret investor who is the father of a 10-month old baby who will be the first cloned human. And who knows what else is going on.

Eternal Life Promised

Once unleashed, cloning will lead to even newer technical feats, according to the Raelians. That's where the memory and personality transfers come in. And all likely within the next 20 years. And then, the ultimate dream fulfilled: eternal life.

Cut to the other two scientists, both seemingly self-assured fertility specialists, speaking at the academy who are also on a big-time cloning mission, even threatening to perform the feat on a ship in international waters, if necessary, to avoid government bans on cloning.

Severino Antinori of Rome and Panos Zavos of Lexington, Ky., strongly believe that human cloning is a here-and-now thing and nothing should stop them from trying.

Read a Zavos essay for ABCNEWS.com on why it makes sense to clone humans.

Many scientists at the academy's meeting made it very clear that they should be stopped because they are living in a cloning fantasy. Much too little is understood about cloning and how it might go wrong.

But according to Zavos, advances have exploded in recent years, and unfortunately most of the research done on animal cloning to date has been poorly done. I suppose that means the unusually high amount of genetic abnormalities carried by animal clones can be reversed with better science. And no doubt better science can erase the high failure rate of attempts to clone animals. Davos and Antinori contend they have the better way.

Scores of humans have already signed up for their project, according to Antinori. He hopes the first cloned baby will be ready by the end of next year.

It Sounds Simple

Really, it sounds simple enough: take genetic material from a single cell of one person. Inject it into an egg cell that had its genes removed. Implant the fertilize egg cell into a woman's womb. And voila, a clone.

Might that be me — and maybe very soon?

And are you in, or not?

To anyone who objects to the very idea of cloning, well, the Raelians might think you are an obso (as in "obsolete"), who is enslaved into the dominant understanding of how human life began and undoubtedly believe in a fantasy such as "God."

Antinori and Zavos look at today's science and might think "get a life" and "get out of my face you shameless naysayers and dim bulbs."

So take your pick, a secret lab or a ship.

Oh, you may wish to wait awhile. Fine.