'Clone' Groan as Cult Ducks DNA Testing

New York Post/January 3, 2003
By Marsha Kranes

The head of the company that last week boasted it had created the world's first cloned human now says it may not produce DNA proof of its claim, a French TV network reported yesterday.

Brigitte Boisselier, CEO of Clonaid and a "bishop" of the oddball alien-worshipping Raelian cult that runs it, told France-2 a decision on whether DNA tests will be performed would be made by the infant's American parents.

"The parents told me they needed 48 hours to decide yes or no," she said.

Last Thursday, when she announced the birth of 7-pound baby Eve, Boisselier promised reporters, "You will have all the proof you need in about eight days."

Former ABC-TV science editor Michael Guillen, who was at her side, said he would have "independent world-class experts" perform DNA tests on the mother and child.

But yesterday, Boisselier said, "The parents have gone home and just want to have some peace and spend time with the child."

She would not say where home is, where the baby was born, or anything about the infant's 31-year-old American mother.

Boisselier, whose cult believes aliens created humans through genetic engineering, said a second human clone would be born in Europe today or tomorrow.