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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTREAL 000001 SIPDIS E.0. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO, ECON, KIRF, CA, Health SUBJECT: CLONING CLAIM PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON QUEBEC-BASED RAELIAN GROUP 1. SUMMARY: THE FOLLOWING IS SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE MONTREAL-BASED RAELIAN GROUP, WHOSE MEMBER DR. BRIGITTE BOISSELIER ANNOUNCED AT A DECEMBER 27 PRESS CONFERENCE IN HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA THE BIRTH OF THE FIRST CLONED HUMAN BEING, A 7 POUND BABY GIRL NICKNAMED EVE. AND ITS TWO MAIN FIGURES LEADER CLAUDE VORILHON, BETTER KNOWN AS RAEL, AND DR. BOISSELIER. ONE LIKELY RESULT OF THE BOISSELIER ANNOUNCEMENT IS THAT CANADA'S PENDING LEGISLATION TO BAN HUMAN CLONING COULD CONTAIN STRICTER RESTRICTIONS. END SUMMARY. 2. THE RAELIAN MOVEMENT WAS FOUNDED BY FRENCHMAN CLAUDE VORILHON, A FORMER SPORTS JOURNALIST, FAILED SINGER, RADIO COMMENTATOR AND AVID STOCK CAR RACER. VORILHON CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN CONCEIVED ON DECEMBER 25, 1945, BY A FRENCH MOTHER AND AN ALIEN FATHER. SPECIALISTS SAY HE WAS BORN IN VICHY, FRANCE IN 1946. VORILHON WHO USES THE NAME RAEL (GOD'S LIGHT) (PRONOUNCED RA-EL IN FRENCH (RHYMES WITH KAL-EL AND JOR-EL)) SAYS HE CREATED THE MOVEMENT AFTER ALIENS VISITED HIM IN CENTRAL FRANCE IN 1973. AT THAT TIME, LITTLE GREEN ALIENS (APPROXIMATELY 4 FT TALL) TOLD HIM --IN FLUENT FRENCH- - EARTHLINGS HAD BEEN CREATED IN A LABORATORY 25,000 YEARS AGO. SINCE THESE ALIENS WHICH HE CALLS THE ELOHIM (THE HEBREW WORD FOR GOD) ARE 25,000 YEARS AHEAD OF US, RAEL SAYS CLONING IS VERY SIMPLE TASK FOR THEM. 3. ALTHOUGH THE SECT IS BASED IN MONTREAL--AND NOT SWITZERLAND AS THE BRITISH TABLOID PRESS HAS REPORTED --RAEL MOVED HIS PERSONAL HEADQUARTERS TO FLORIDA IN THE EARLY NINETIES. WHEN IT WAS ANNOUNCED RAEL WAS MOVING TO FLORIDA, RADIO COMMENTATORS JOKED HE WAS SIMPLY IMITATING QUEBEC SNOWBIRDS OR THAT HE WANTED TO GET CLOSER TO NASCAR CIRCUITS. HOWEVER, SOME SAW U.S. EXPANSION AS A LOGICAL BUSINESS MOVE. ON THE ONE HAND, SINCE THE 1960S, QUEBEC HAS PROVEN TO BE TOUGH RECRUITING GROUNDS FOR ALL RELIGIOUS GROUPS, MAINSTREAM OR OTHERWISE. ON THE OTHER, THE U.S. OFFERS MUCH BIGGER POOLS OF MONEY AND TARGET AUDIENCES FOR RAELIAN COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES. BECAUSE THE GROUP IS RECOGNIZED AS AN ATHEIST RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION BY THE QUEBEC GOVERNMENT IT ENJOYS THE SAME FISCAL ADVANTAGES AS OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS. 4. THE GROUP OPERATES A THEME PARK CALLED UFO LAND IN QUEBEC'S EASTERN TOWNSHIPS AREA. THE FACILITY, WHICH CONSISTS MAINLY OF A LARGE FLYING SAUCER, A LARGE-SCALE DNA MOLECULE AND SOME ROOMS FOR SUMMER SEMINARS AND MEDIA INTERVIEWS, WAS RECENTLY VANDALIZED BUT IS SCHEDULED TO REOPEN THIS SUMMER. 5. IN PHOTOS AND TELEVISION APPEARANCES, RAEL SURROUNDS HIMSELF WITH BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. RAELIAN MEDIA KITS INCLUDE MANY PICTURES OF SCANTILY DRESSED "MEMBERS." RAEL PREACHES "SENSUAL MEDITATION" WHICH ENABLES THE FAITHFUL TO REACH THE "COSMIC ORGASM." 6. DESPITE THE SECT'S TWO POWERFUL MARKETING TOOLS, SEX AND UFOS, THE RAELIANS HAVE VERY FEW MEMBERS. THEIR WEB SITE WWW.RAEL.ORG CLAIMS -IN TWENTY LANGUAGES-- TO HAVE 55,000 MEMBERS IN 84 COUNTRIES. HOWEVER MIKE KROPVELD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE MONTREAL-BASED INFO-SECTE (NO RELATION WITH THE PARIS ORGANIZATION OF THE SAME NAME) TOLD POST THAT THE RAELIANS INFLATE THEIR FIGURES WITH PAST AND OCCASIONAL MEMBERS. BECAUSE OF ALL THE MEDIA ATTENTION, THE GROUP CREATES A LOT OF CURIOSITY -A RAEL SPOKESMAN STATED IN THE LOCAL PRESS ON DECEMBER 30 THAT THE WEBSITE WAS GETTING ONE MILLION HITS PER HOUR ON DECEMBER 26 -- BUT MOST VISITORS ONLY ATTEND A FEW MEETINGS. THE ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP IS BETWEEN 2,000 AND 3,000 WORLDWIDE AND ABOUT 700 IN MONTREAL, SAYS KROPVELD. 7. ACCORDING TO LOCAL NEWS ANALYSTS, THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF RAELIANS IS TO CREATE LIFE IN A LABORATORY WHICH WOULD MAKE HUMAN BEINGS IMMORTAL AND ENABLE THEM TO CREATE ANOTHER CIVILIZATION ON ANOTHER PLANET. IN THE MEANTIME, RAEL WANTS TO BUILD AN EMBASSY IN ISRAEL TO WELCOME THE ELOHIM WHEN THEY COME BACK IN 2035. THE GROUP HAS ALSO BEEN CRITICIZED FOR ADVOCATING THE USE OF GENETICS FOR EUGENIC ATTEMPTS AT IMPROVING THE HUMAN RACE. THE GROUP'S STRUCTURE WITH PRIESTS AND BISHOPS IS BASED ALONG THE LINES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 8. UNTIL RECENTLY THE GROUP AVOIDED SERIOUS CONTROVERSY. THERE HAVE NOT BEEN ANY STORIES OF FORMER MEMBERS COMPLAINING ABOUT BEING CONNED OUT OF THEIR MONEY OR PHYSICALLY ABUSED OR SEDUCED, AND NO INVOLVEMENT WITH MINORS -- EXCEPT ONE CASE IN FRANCE. 9. NONETHELESS, THE RAELIANS KNOW HOW TO PIGGYBACK ON STORIES TO GET PUBLICITY. WHEN IN 1993, AUTHORITIES IN QUEBEC DECIDED AGAINST INSTALLING CONDOM DISTRIBUTORS IN SCHOOLS, RAELIANS VISITED THE KIDS WITH FREE SAMPLES. IN THE WAKE OF THE RECENT PEDOPHILE CHARGES AGAINST VARIOUS RELIGIOUS ORDERS, THE GROUP WENT BACK TO THE SCHOOLS IN QUEBEC. THEIR PLAN THIS TIME WAS TO HAND OUT SMALL WOODEN CROSSES FOR THE STUDENTS TO BURN. BUT PUBLIC AND GOVERNMENTAL OPPOSITION STOPPED THE LATER PROJECT. IN BOTH CASES, ALMOST ALL THE PUBLICITY THEY GARNERED WAS BAD. 10. SENSING A SIMILAR WAVE OF CONDEMNATION, RAEL HAS PUBLICLY DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM DR. BOISSELIER, A RAELIAN BISHOP, AND HER CLONING WORK, SAYING HE HAD GOTTEN RID OF CLONAID TWO YEARS AGO. HOWEVER, KROPVELD BELIEVES THAT CLONING IS BY FAR THE GROUP'S MOST DANGEROUS WORK. KROPFELD EVEN DOUBTS RAEL REALLY BELIEVES IN CLONING HUMAN BEINGS BEYOND ITS MARKETING POSSIBILITIES FOR HIMSELF AS SECT LEADER. 11. AS FOR DR BRIGITTE BOISSELIER, SHE WAS BORN IN 1956 IN FRANCE. SHE HOLDS TWO PHDS IN CHEMISTRY, ONE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF DIJON IN FRANCE AND ONE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON. AFTER HOUSTON SHE WAS HIRED BY AIR LIQUIDE THE FRENCH INDUSTRIAL AND MEDICAL GAS MULTINATIONAL TO WORK ON REVERSIBLE OXYGEN BINDING. IN 1989, AIR LIQUIDE PROMOTED HER TO VP RESEARCH. 12. PRIOR TO JOINING CLONAID (SEE WWW.CLONAID.COM) IN 1997, DR. BOISSELIER HAD NOT WORKED IN BIOLOGY OR REPRODUCTION TECHNIQUES. THE LAS VEGAS-BASED CLONAID RECEIVED $500,000 FROM MARK HUNT TO BUILD A LABORATORY IN WEST VIRGINIA BEFORE MR. HUNT DECIDED TO STOP FINANCING THAT PROJECT. CLONAID ALSO CLAIMS TO HAVE RECEIVED $200,000 FROM 250 DIFFERENT DONORS IN THE HOPE OF CLONING A FAMILY MEMBER. ON MARCH 28, 2001 DR. BOISSELIER AND RAEL DEFENDED THEIR CLONING PROJECTS BEFORE A SENATE COMMITTEE. 13. COMMENT. THE PUBLICITY GARNERED BY THE CLONING ANNOUNCEMENT MAY BE USED BY THE RAEL ORGANIZATION TO GAIN NEW ADHERENTS IN THE UNITED STATES. 14. CANADA LIKE MANY OTHER COUNTRIES IS IN THE PROCESS OF ADOPTING LEGISLATION BILL C-113 WHICH WOULD BAN HUMAN CLONING. ONE LIKELY RESULT OF THE BOISSELIER ANNOUNCEMENT IS THAT SUCH LEGISLATION COULD CONTAIN STRICTER RESTRICTIONS. END COMMENT. KANTER