The ongoing controversy surrounding human cloning is as complex as the DNA strands scientists attempt to replicate.
Those who believe in the power of such technology to help in the cure of life-altering diseases such as Parkinson's are pitted against those who are uncomfortable with the idea of humans attempting to play God.
But what happens when the scientists who are claiming to have cloned the first human ever are taking orders from a different kind of God -- one who happens to be a 4-foot tall space alien?
As ridiculous as it sounds, chemist Brigitte Boisselier's announcement last month that the biotech company Clonaid successfully cloned the first human baby has reopened the scientific debate regarding the legitimacy of such claims, particularly those from groups like the Raelians, the religious cult to which Boisselier belongs.
To fully understand the outlandish beliefs of the Raelians take a closer look at the history of the cult's creation. In this week's issue of U.S. News & World Report, former French journalist Claude Vorilhon (known as the prophet Rael to his followers) tells how he created a UFO-based religion that today has between 20,000 and 50,000 members.
One night in 1973, Rael reportedly took a walk in the woods where he was taken aboard a silver flying saucer and introduced to aliens who informed him that extraterrestrial scientists called Elohim had cloned all life on earth 25,000 years ago. To the Elohim, scientific cloning was the answer to achieving immortality.
In 1997, Rael attempted to follow the aliens' tradition with the $3,000 purchase of a small human cloning company in the Bahamas called Clonaid.
It has been six years since the company began its cloning research, but Clonaid's recent announcement of the birth of Baby Eve has yet to be taken seriously by many scientists, including Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.
In an interview with TIME, Caplan said Clonaid's preposterous announcement has cast a shadow on legitimate cloning research.
"I knew they would have a very damaging impact on the cloning debate. First, they would just plain scare people," Caplan said. "The Raelians are not the picture you want in people's minds when they write their Congressman about cloning."
With Boisselier side-stepping questions from the media and backing off on her promise to provide proof of the baby, scientists are fairly certain the world's first human clone may not exist -- and many would like to see it stay that way.
But sadly it seems there are still those who support such possibilities. The Washington Times reported that already more than 2,000 people have told Clonaid they would be willing to spend $200,000 each to have their clone planted in a womb -- for a total of $400 million dollars.
Is it a sign of the times when such people are willing to back a group of individuals that boasts its own UFO theme park? As scary as the thought may be, it is one that must be taken seriously for fear of what the future may hold.
Only when there is a worldwide consensus by scientists, theologists and politicians alike to outlaw the possibility of human cloning will there be a way to reprimand such sci-fi-worshipping freaks.
Write to Gail at glkoch@bsu.edu
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