Representatives from the Raelian Revolution and its offspring human-cloning company, Clonaid, explained the extraterrestrial revolution and the mission of cloning Tuesday evening in the Memorial Union.
Part of the “Spotlight Series,” sponsored by the Contemporary Issues Committee of Wisconsin Union Directorate, speakers Marc Letourneau and Thomas Kaenzig presented their program to a large and diverse audience that filled every seat and all empty floor space of Tripp Commons.
The Raelian Revolution is the world’s largest UFO-related nonprofit organization. In 1973, a man named Rael founded the movement in France as an international religious organization, claiming that a human extraterrestrial race called the Elohim used DNA and genetic engineering to scientifically create all life on Earth.
Rael.org states the group’s purpose as “working towards the first embassy to welcome people from space … sweeping the world with the most politically incorrect and fearlessly individualistic philosophy of non-conformism.”
In February 1997, Rael members and a group of investors created Clonaid, the first human-cloning company in the world, based in the Bahamas. During its first three years, Clonaid failed to produce any clones. However, in 2000, the company was sold to Raelian bishop Dr. Brigitte Boisselier and a team of scientists, and since that time, Clonaid claims to have cloned five children.
Tuesday’s lecture featured two members of the Raelian movement and Clonaid. Both men, who dressed in black and wore Star of David insignia (to symbolize the infinite space in which extraterrestrials scientifically created mankind), were enthusiastic about the future of cloning.
The first speaker, Marc Letourneau, a Clonaid representative and Raelian, said he wanted to inform — not convince — the public about cloning.
“I want you to understand our side of the story,” Letourneau said. “Everything is possible; be open-minded about that.”
Letourneau tried to combat skeptics’ beliefs.
“Cloning may appear to be science fiction, but it is the reality of tomorrow,” he said.
He also said the media has avoided revelations in human cloning because society is in denial of its existence.
Using a PowerPoint presentation as a visual aid, Clonaid vice president Thomas Kaenzig explained the scientific process of cloning and its benefits from a business perspective.
Kaenzig asserted that cloning is a safe technology to improve human life.
“Therapeutic cloning applications can treat brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and diabetes, spinal cord damage and cancer,” Kaenzig said. “There are many people who really hope for this technology to happen.”
Kaenzig said reproductive cloning could help every part of the population.
“In homosexual couples, one lesbian can get a sperm donation and produce a child,” Kaenzig said. “In people with AIDS, sexual intercourse will normally spread the disease to the partner and child. Now people can have a child without AIDS.”
Kaenzig said before President Bush’s election, the United States was more supportive of cloning applications. However, under the current conservative administration, the technology has become increasingly controversial, ultimately forcing many stem-cell scientists to move research to the United Kingdom and Asia.
Despite governmental reform, however, Kaenzig believes Clonaid’s efforts will continue. “Nothing can stop it,” he said.
