Cult sells 'cloning machines'

News 24, Reuters/July 23, 2002

Washington -- The Clonaid Society, created by the founder of the Raelian movement, is selling online what it claims are "cloning machines" to further efforts to clone humans around the world.

The machine was created by Korean scientists, who are sect members.

Dubbed the RMX 2010, it makes possible a nuclear fusion operation aimed at obtaining a human clone embryo which in theory could be implanted in a woman's uterus to start a pregnancy.

The machine can be ordered on the company's internet site for $9,199. The site also estimates that the cost of cloning a human to be about $200,000.

"Not only are we hoping to be the first to clone a human being, but we also want to contribute so that the cloning efforts can multiply everywhere on the planet, helping to cure all diseases and improve the human race," said Rael, founder of the Raelian sect and the Clonaid company.

Rael hailed the fact that the United States had yet to pass an anti-cloning law as "a huge victory".

"Five countries are now fully engaged in cloning: China, Sweden, Britain, Israel and Saudi Arabia," he said in a release.

The Raelian sect was founded in 1973 by a former French journalist Claude Vorilhon, or "Rael". Rael, who lives in Quebec, considers himself a prophet akin to Moses or Mohamed and claims 55,000 followers worldwide.

The Raelians believe life on Earth was established by extraterrestrials who arrived in spaceships 25,000 years ago and that humans themselves were created by cloning.