Cult Agrees Not to Clone Human in U.S.

New York Times/July 2, 2001

Washington -- Federal regulators have inspected a laboratory run by a secretive religious sect intent on cloning a person and have obtained a written pledge from the group's lead scientist not to experiment with cloning in this country, both the scientist and the Food and Drug Administration said.

The scientist, Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, has signed an agreement "not to attempt human cloning in the United States and not to do research using human eggs in the United States" until the legality of human cloning is settled by Congress or the courts, Larry Bachorik, a spokesman for the agency, said on Friday.

Dr. Boisselier said she had experimented only with eggs of cows. She said she did not know how agency officials found her laboratory. The agency inspected the laboratory in April, several weeks after she testified before Congress about her plans, she said.

Dr. Boisselier is a member of the Raelian religious sect, which believes in extraterrestrial visitors. She said she would open a laboratory outside the United States but would not say where.