Original subtitles

When I lost my daughter, I knew I could no longer work in France.

French bioethics law stipulates

that if you express a positive stance in favor of cloning,

you can go to prison, for as long as three years.

It's...

It's completely against freedom of expression.

It's crazy.

I went to work in the US,

because my degree was recognized there.

Raël had entrusted Brigitte with the mission of human cloning.

And one day, Brigitte called me and asked for my help.

At the time, I studied biotechnology in the US.

I was ready to give up everything for the cause,

to follow their orders.

So, a few months later, we began our work in the laboratory.

We were very active.

We really tried to be as active as possible in the media,

as well as in the medical field.

In the United States, in a secret location,

Professor Brigitte Boisselier has set up a laboratory,

as the latest key piece of her cloning company, Clonaid.

We started the building of the lab in the fall and, uh...

now it's operating.

How much are you charging for this service,

for signing up to your company, Clonaid?

We will charge, when the baby is there, 200,000 dollars.

I was contacted by a couple who absolutely wanted to meet me.

So, I went to see them.

I'll always remember the image.

The father was sitting.

He was sitting across the table, along with his partner,

and he opened a file, and showed me a picture...

of a baby.

And he said, "He died. Can you clone him?"

I said...

"Of course."

It's beautiful.

I think it's fantastic!

It reminds me of the scientists of the past,

who said the Earth was round, and were condemned by the Vatican.

People who can't have children can have them through cloning. Why not?

And suddenly, everyone wondered

if we should be outlawing human cloning.

Yeah, it's... Well, I must admit, I had a good time.

RAËL: THE ALIEN PROPHET

UNITED STATES

Brigitte Boisselier, a chemistry professor,

and Raël, an extravagant religious leader,

are on the brink of cloning a human being.

In order to make this happen, they have created a company, Clonaid.

Our dream is to be able to...

to introduce a baby to the public

before Christmas 2001.

The Clonaid laboratory is financed

by a couple mourning the loss of their ten-month-old son.

And they will stop at nothing to have him cloned.

In a letter issued by the father, he has stated, "I am an attorney."

"Our commitment to human cloning

and to duplicating our child

is unlimited."

Mark Hunt was an American lawyer.

He had tragically lost his baby to heart disease.

And... Mark Hunt had seen Raël on a TV show.

Mark dreamed of bringing his child back to life.

...get ourselves eternal life. That's the goal.

It was extremely moving.

It was the first time I'd ever met someone...

someone who had a concrete goal and the will to see it through.

You know, actually, really do it.

So, we built a lab

in Nitro, West Virginia, to make it happen.

I was lucky to have help from a Raëlian technician,

who was extremely talented.

He set up the lab.

At the time, I was immersed in the study of biotechnology.

I specialized in DNA analyses.

So for this human cloning project,

Brigitte called on me.

Mark Hunt bought a lot of equipment.

I set up all the equipment, micro-manipulators.

I grew cell cultures.

I did PCR tests.

I did so many things.

I set up all kinds of equipment, etc.

I felt like I had been given a mission,

a special mission.

It was a real adventure. In my mind, I felt like uh...

a bit like... Well, I felt a little like a secret agent.

One of the main keys to successful cloning

is the ability to have eggs and to carry the child to term.

And that meant having surrogate mothers.

Hello everyone.

I've been talking about cloning for 27 years.

At first, people laughed, saying it was impossible.

Things have changed. They're not laughing, they're afraid.

We're laughing.

Brigitte has the knowledge to create this company,

because it's always been her profession.

And what do I bring?

I bring enthusiasm.

We have 50,000 members in the Raëlian movement,

and we now have 50 surrogate mothers.

They were the hardest to find, but for us, it was easy.

Our advantage was having women who were willing to donate their eggs

and lend their uteruses

to bring cloned children into the world with us.

I'm Anoushka. I'm 24.

I wish to be a part of this great mission, because I've always wanted and dreamed

of participating in the development of humanity.

The surrogates who volunteered

to carry the first cloned baby,

they were the first in human history.

I'm Jade, I'm 33 years old.

I'd liked to have been a surrogate,

if I'd been the proper age.

But Brigitte chose very young women,

to have a better chance of accomplishing the scientific mission.

I'm Marina. I'm 22. I'm an art student.

And I volunteered as a surrogate mother

because I've always dreamed of having a child.

When Marina, my oldest daughter, volunteered as a surrogate,

I respected and admired her choice.

Being part of this process is a true privilege.

I was so grateful for the efforts she'd made.

It was a way for her to say, "I completely support what you're doing."

Mom... My mother, she's, uh, Dr. Boisselier,

and she was working on it...

The mom in me thought, "oh no."

We know that, technically, it's possible.

We know it.

Even a religious lunatic like Raël could do something like this.

Of course, remaining in line with his theory

that humanity was created through cloning by the Elohim.

It would prove the veracity of his experience.

It could no longer ruled out, right?

Every Raëlian was aware we were taking a big step.

It was a huge turning point for us.

For Raëlians, but also for humanity.

It was exciting.

People laughed at us for 40 years.

I've met aliens whose civilization and tech

are far more advanced.

With our cells, we can give a body to an individual.

What humans are learning now about DNA...

We will one day be able to give ourselves eternal life.

Like it or not, cloning will happen.

People who are against cloning and eternal life

are free to die!

It is an emotional debate, and it arrived on Capitol Hill today.

It involves human cloning.

As cloning supporters made their case before a skeptical House subcommittee.

Then, something phenomenal happened.

Raël goes to Washington.

He's just one of the people congress wants to talk to,

when they hold hearings on the pros and cons of human cloning.

Congress represents the place where...

not only the laws are made,

but there's debate about why is human cloning important?

JOURNALIST

Having a hearing about human cloning in the Congress

is enormous publicity.

But it also provides some legitimacy,

because it also makes it look like the Congress is taking this seriously,

that the Congress is willing to consider

laws that would allow human cloning in the United States.

Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, scientific Director of Clonaid.

Welcome, thank you for coming.

Please rise and raise your right hand. I will swear you in.

You swear that the testimony you're about to give is the truth...

It was an achievement.

I could never have imagined something like that happening.

No scenario could have led to an event like that.

And here I was, a part of it.

Thank you. Witnesses may be seated.

Back then, there wasn't any kind of social media.

There was a cable channel for Congress.

So we all watched the broadcast.

Uh...

Several of us had gotten together at my place.

And we all had tears in our eyes.

The Americans treated us with respect.

And now, we would turn to Dr. Brigitte Boisselier.

And you are recognized for five minutes for your testimony.

From what I know today,

I'm... I'm not... against the law,

or, I'm no in br... breaching any law.

In doing it here, in certain states, I know that they have...

Not only did Brigitte Boisselier have a PhD,

but she had been teaching in this area, this field of genetics.

She was well known.

She's a serious French biochemist.

You're right.

Okay, so you're doing that with cow eggs, now?

-Right. -What's the second step?

The second step is to do the nucleation of human eggs.

-And have you done that yet? -No.

-When do you expect to do that? -Soon.

Thank you, Ms. Chairman.

And then, Raël said, "I want to go, too."

It was such an incredible moment for the movement.

I mean, Raël was invited to Congress, in the most powerful country...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

...to talk about cloning. Just, wow! Incredible.

Human cloning is the first step towards another great discovery.

The creation of totally artificial form of life,

like that was done by our creators, the Elohim,

when they did created us on Earth.

Not only human cloning is not against the wish of what people call God,

but it is our creators' plan to have us discover and use it.

It was fascinating to watch him, you know?

To see him express himself

as a religious official, as a representative,

in front of American political authorities.

Testifying before Congress was a really smart move.

It was a power move, clearly.

This would never happen in France.

...as science save lives, while religion and superstition kill.

Why did I ask Brigitte Boisselier to create

the first human company in America?

Because, as the country of freedom,

you have a constitution which should be a model for the whole world.

The founder of the Raëlians is saying something

embracing the principles of the United States,

and its freedoms, and its openness.

They're smart.

Is it safe to do it now? Now.

And when will it happen?

When IVF started, there was only 2% of success.

How did they improve to reach almost 100% today?

By doing it.

When you have this sort of issue come up,

playing with the creation of human life,

that clashes directly with the religious community...

...the legal community,

the political community.

So it becomes this sort of combustible issue.

Human cloning is a form of playing God,

since it interferes with the natural order of creation.

If it took 277 attempts to obtain Dolly the sheep,

how many human monsters will it take to create a perfect clone?

"Charlatanry in medicine."

"Experiments comparable to Nazis."

"A crime against humanity."

Congress has to make a decision about whether it is ethical to allow

the destruction of human beings as part of a human experiment.

I don't think that's a very difficult question to answer.

President Bush said today he supports a ban

on the cloning of human beings.

The use of embryos to clone is wrong.

We should not, as a society, grow life to destroy it.

America is ready to kill

hundred thousand innocent civilian in Iraq,

but because we give birth to a baby, the people say, "Oh, this is terrible!"

It's a life. It's giving birth, not killing.

After appearing in front of Congress,

we became the US government's main focus.

One day, there was a knock at my door.

A man with a tie and another man.

I think they were probably from the FBI.

And they wanted to know if there was a laboratory in my house.

So funny!

They were investigating what was happening.

If the FBI was getting involved,

it meant that people in high places were worried about Clonaid.

The American government has ways of dissuading people.

One day, I was at the lab.

I remember seeing a group of men arrive, four or five, I think,

all dressed in matching black suits.

They asked to be allowed to inspect the facilities.

The FDA had the jurisdiction to oppose

human cloning taking place in the U.S.

They shut down the lab overnight.

It was a brutal shock.

"The administration unequivocally is opposed

to the cloning of human beings, either for reproduction or for research."

"The moral and ethical issues posed by human cloning

are profound and cannot be ignored in the quest for scientific discovery."

In the end, the House voted to ban all human cloning in the United States.

At the time, I received an email from Mark Hunt.

He said, "The FDA has shut down the laboratory."

"You've been flagged by the FBI."

"We're going to be leaving town."

What she is doing is just against nature.

It was rough.

It is totally, morally wrong.

Brigitte Boisselier and Clonaid have proven

they have the means to achieve their ambitions,

and it's only a matter of years before one of these two mad scientists

carries out this project in some corner of the earth.

Pr. Boisselier has made it known that,

thanks to a new investor,

she has created another laboratory outside of the United States.

She does not wish to comment any further on the matter.

Luckily, having so much media attention in 2000, 2001, etc.,

it meant we were contacted by many parents,

by many people who wanted children.

So, we had a list of couples,

and we selected one.

They couldn't have children.

They were infertile.

And they wanted to have a little baby girl.

Yes. A clone of her mother.

So, we set up our lab in a place where it was possible to do so.

It was a place where there were... no anti-cloning laws.

It was an ideal situation.

We did follow-ups, organized rankings, everything.

Egg production, cloning creation.

And, after the implantation, everyone went back home.

The pregnancy had really developed quite well.

We scheduled the birth,

because the doctor had decided that it would be a cesarean.

The press was expecting the baby's birth at any moment.

There was a Raëlian retreat in Miami.

Raël was there, of course, I remember, I was sitting at a table with him.

They had announced that the birth was going to be the following day.

And I said: "I need to choose a name

to preserve the anonymity that the parents wish to maintain."

I don't know if it was Raël or someone next to us who had said,

"You should call Her Eve"

And Raël said, "Yes, Eve! That's a great idea."

FLORIDA

I was a journalist, here in South Florida,

at the Miami Herald.

In the news conference, in Hollywood, at the Holiday Inn,

Everybody wanted to be in on the story.

It is striking to me how she seems very serious.

As a scientist claiming that she created this baby,

she's both playing the role of, you know,

a mother, and a God, and a scientist,

all in one.

Well!

Good morning, and thank you for coming. And, uh...

I'm very, very pleased to announce that the ba... first baby clone...

uh... is born.

She was born yesterday at 11:55,

uh...

in the country where she was born.

She... She's fine. We call her Eve, between us.

You knew that, of course.

The technique that we have been using is, uh,

very close to the one that has been described, uh, for Dolly.

A spectacle such as this one

could never take place in France.

And Raël was very much aware of that.

That's why he went to Canada and the United States,

where they allow this sort of thing.

If a Raëlian gave a press conference, here tomorrow,

to announce the birth of a cloned baby,

you can be certain that she'd be locked up and investigated that very night.

You know, I... I read an article, I think, a few days ago,

"Will she be called Eve?" And I laughed a lot.

And I said, "Well, that's a good point."

After announcing the birth of Eve, I left the building.

The person driving me was very worried for my safety,

and he thought that I would be bombarded in a way by the press.

And the only thing that I really remember

was lying in the back of the car, hiding underneath a blanket.

I peeked out from under the blanket,

and I saw all the journalists, there, in the trees.

It was pretty crazy.

When Brigitte announced...

that she'd cloned a human baby...

well, the media exploded.

Good evening. The Raëlian cult has announced

the birth of the first cloned baby.

They say they have cloned the first human.

They say the girl was born yesterday.

Bang!

The planet knows Raëlians exist.

For the first time in history,

a little girl conceived by cloning was born in a secret location,

according to US-based cult, the Raëlians.

-Brigitte Boisselier... -Boisselier...

-Dr. Brigitte Boisselier... -Brigitte Boisselier...

I was in a whirlwind.

She's doing real fine, and the parents are happy.

I was caught up in the spinning wheel.

Brigitte Boisselier stunned the world

by claiming that a woman has given birth to the first ever cloned human being.

It was really extraordinary exposure.

Thank you, Brigitte.

That's when I thought, "I think I accomplished my mission."

Boisselier says her company cloned a human,

but scientists are skeptical of the group's claim,

some calling it an outright hoax.

They don't have the science, or the medicine.

Nobody in the organization has any connection to reproductive technology.

Is it all a hoax? Or...

He reminds me of Dr. Evil.

Welcome back to Crossfire. Last Friday, Brigitte Boisselier...

It was the day after Christmas.

I didn't have a busy day at the office.

I was sitting at home, relaxing, watching CNN.

I'm very, very pleased to announce that the ba... first baby clone...

is born.

She was born yesterday at 11:55.

LAWYER

When I first saw this, I was, of course, astonished.

Brigitte's saying, "I created life."

Some people will say it's luck.

She created life? Okay.

So, I put on my legal hat.

What happens if Baby Eve...

doesn't have a safety net?

We didn't know who the parents were,

but Clonaid had come into my backyard,

and made this birth announcement for the entire world.

Live from the CNN broadcast...

Well, I wasn't going to let this go without having to fight.

Good evening. Tonight, there are reports that the Raëlians are fearful

that Eve's mother may lose her baby.

This after a lawyer filed suit asking a legal guardian be appointed

to take custody of Eve.

I quite naturally thought back

to my experiences at juvenile court

and protecting children.

Under Florida law,

anyone who's aware of an exploited child,

a child that could be harmed in some way,

that might be in danger, or being exploited,

can bring that to the court's attention.

The National Academy of Sciences

and every legitimate medical organization

that has studied the issue of human reproductive cloning

says that a child has severe genetic,

and possible fatal genetic risks.

So, I felt compelled to take some action

to protect the child.

The baby is the focus of this case, Baby Eve.

It's not about Raël,

it's not about Brigitte, it's not about Clonaid.

It's the fact that this child is being exploited,

that this child was part of an unknown medical experiment.

You know, I have seen the...

for the last five years, how it's going on.

When a new technology arrives, we have the disgust, first.

Then you have the fear, and then the doubts.

And then you have to slowly to accept.

And then, probably in five years from now, we'll say,

"Well, we always said that this is okay." You know?

One day, there's going to be a human clone walking amongst us.

That person's legal rights must be protected,

and a medical safety net

needs to be prepared to protect that child.

This child could be taken away from her parents.

These parents are worried. They wanted this child.

I will do everything I can to protect it.

FLORIDA

I thought to myself, "Maybe I'll make legal history."

"This will be the first case ever to protect a human clone."

So, everyone was breathless.

Media from around the world were there.

CNN was breaking in live.

Dr. Boisselier, can we have a word with you?

The objective Siegel had was to take the child from its parents,

in order to make sure it was okay.

But how could you even think that a child

who is taken away from its parents and put under the spotlight

could possibly have a better childhood than with its own family?

It was... It was monstrous.

Dr. Boisselier, can we... Hey guys, can you step back?

We had a fearless city editor,

who wanted us to get to the bottom of this story.

"Get me that Raëlian baby!"

You've got the state involved. You've got lawyers involved.

You've got these international journalists and all the other networks in New York

wanting this story.

It almost became kind of like a soap opera.

The night before, President George W. Bush

had given his State of the Union Address,

and decried human cloning!

...pass a law against all human cloning.

All rise!

The Honorable John A. Frusciante now presiding.

Thank you very much.

Can everyone hear okay?

This is case 2002-14135.

State your names for the record. Please proceed.

That was my favorite picture.

I felt like that I had been a hunter after the most elusive prey possible.

And suddenly, there she was.

Someone that thought she was above the law,

someone who thought that she would never have to come into a courtroom, ever.

-Ms. Boisselier, here. -And there she was.

Entering a courtroom like that is intimidating.

I could have actually ended up in prison that day.

What was my feeling? My feeling was, "I've got you!"

You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth... The other right hand.

-The other right hand. -Oh!

You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes, I swear.

Ms. Boisselier, your organization has in fact, uh...

established a human clone?

Um, now under oath, is that what you're saying? Is that true?

Yes, this is correct.

Can you tell the court where the location of that individual is?

I can tell you that this individual is not in the United States,

has never been in the United States.

I want you to tell the court where the child is today.

This... This baby was not born in the US. It has never been in the US.

Tell the court where the child is today.

Okay. This baby is in Israel.

Israel, okay.

All the European authorities, and even the American authorities

were vehemently against cloning.

So the birth took place in Israel.

I was not present at the time of birth.

I simply received reports, now and then, from my colleagues.

Can you reveal under confidentiality to the court

the exact whereabouts of the child? Would you do that?

I would, if I knew, but... I don't know where they are right now.

Can you reveal to the court under confidentiality

the name of the pediatrician?

The pediatrician doesn't wish to, so...

But you could reveal that under confidentiality

if the court inquired?

Well, so far the pediatrician doesn't want to.

Have you seen the child?

I haven't seen the child.

I've seen videos of the child,

but I haven't seen myself the child.

Everybody there was like, "Okay, she's saying this."

"It seems believable."

But at the same time,

there was no name of the baby, no name of the mother.

It was like,

"You've gotta be kidding me! This is absurd."

Who were the parents? Where were they?

Was there a safety net in case the child was born and had poor health?

What was going on?

Where did the cloning take place?

Objection, it's irrelevant to the case.

I knew I was being monitored,

and there was no indication that this had stopped.

So, I did not keep any direct contact with the parents or with the doctors.

-The child resides in Israel? -Yes, this is correct.

It was a real dilemma.

...been in any other jurisdiction?

No.

So, I could either force the parents to present the child,

or prioritize their protection.

In any case, it was a circus,

in which no child could be happy.

You know what I mean, right?

Ms. Boisselier, if the child would be in the State of Florida,

I would not hesitate to assert this court's jurisdiction

to determine the appropriateness and caring of the child.

If that child exists.

At this point, I will not give any more credibility

to this situation than has already been given.

It is this court's position

that I am without jurisdiction here in the State of Florida.

At this point, we'll dismiss the petition as presented before.

Thank you very much.

Dr. Boisselier, can we have a word with you?

I don't give any more location and any more indication.

The parents want to...

to live happily with their...

with their baby, and...

I understand that, and I respect that.

Now, we have someone that has come into court,

and said, under oath, and testified under oath,

that a child exists.

She testified that the baby was born in Israel.

What could the court do?

The baby was not in Florida.

But we didn't know for sure

where the baby was,

or even if there really was a baby.

And then, it all came to Brigitte's credibility.

The world is waiting for proof

to support a company's claim that it has created the first human clone.

They have given no details regarding the birth.

Is it hype, or is it reality?

It could be the biggest hoax pulled on the world media in recent memory.

Are you a con artist?

That's so... It's so funny, because, well, you don't know me.

But how can you go in front of all the world,

and say something like that if it's not true?

-How can you? -To make a lot of money.

You should look at my car.

Look, I've been spending all my money

to do those babies.

Brigitte didn't reveal the identity of the baby,

and the media did not like that.

People talking about Doctor Frankensteina and all this kind of thing.

I've been treated very badly all the time.

IRREFUTABLE PROOF IN DUE COURSE!

EVE, BORN FROM THE THIGH OF RAËL

The media really wanted the proof.

Eve was born on December 26th.

Tests will be performed, and you will have all the proof.

But the fact is there's no proof,

no picture, no identity,

no promised DNA test of Baby Eve.

But if she's right, Boisselier would have produced

a scientific breakthrough of historic proportions.

For those who say it's all fake,

that it's a hoax, they're allowed,

as long as I haven't provided proof.

In a way, I kind of exposed myself at the highest level.

But since I didn't follow through with the proof, with the evidence,

it made sense that I was dragged through the mud.

I was under enormous pressure with the Raëlians,

and, of course, with Raël.

-Brigitte Boisselier... -Boisselier...

Brigitte Boisselier says her company has cloned a human baby.

So, like everyone in Quebec,

I discovered Brigitte Boisselier

when she announced she'd succeeded in cloning a human.

JOURNALIST

At the time, I was a young investigative reporter

for the Journal of Montreal,

and my boss asked me if I'd be interested in infiltrating the movement

to verify the authenticity of the cloned baby's DNA.

I said yes.

I became Brigitte Doucet,

an accounting assistant.

I called and was given an appointment at their premises in Valcourt.

I also got Chantal into the movement with me.

She was the Montreal newspaper's photographer,

and I really needed pictures for my story.

We were newcomers.

We weren't allowed to move around freely the first day.

"Hey, don't move!" That's what they said.

We really thought they'd figured out who we were.

My heart was just racing.

Later on,

three high-ranking Raëlian bishops were sitting in front of me,

and one of them said,

"Brigitte, the situation is serious."

"Tonight, we are going to denounce Raël as a fraud."

"We want to know, are you with us...

or not?"

I needed to have the right reaction.

I was like, "Well, no!"

"I'm not with you, never!"

And their immediate reaction was, "Ah! Okay. That was the right answer!"

I'd passed the test.

They test everyone.

The intention is to terrorize people,

to make sure they know they're under surveillance,

and they'd better stay on the right path.

Our investigation began.

I went to the event following the cloning announcement.

Raël! Raël! Raël! Raël!

I was really surprised by what I discovered.

I'm doing pretty great.

The memberships are rising, thanks to all the media exposure.

Thank you.

Six hundred million dollars in news coverage!

Yesterday, a Russian magazine interviewed me and said,

"Thanks to the cloning, you've received 600 million dollars in coverage."

I said: "That was before you arrived."

Ka-ching, ka-ching, with every question you ask.

Raël clearly thinks he's a genius.

Nonetheless, we're continuing to clone,

and it's real.

Brigitte says it's true, and I have no reason to doubt her.

Even if you think we did it for the publicity,

it's wonderful.

We're press geniuses.

And human cloning, most of the people didn't give a damn

whether it was real or not.

I couldn't understand.

How could smart people follow a man like him?

I was there that day and I was...

I was...

The Raëlians were completely euphoric.

I felt like I wanted to throw up. I felt sick to my stomach.

The clone announcement was hell for me.

Because the truth is...

having been on the inside...

I can tell you assuredly

that it's not true.