VALCOURT, Quebec -- In the course of 29 years, Claude Vorilhon built a small yet international religious group by preaching that scientists from another planet created all life on Earth. But in 1998, Vorilhon had an especially big pronouncement for his 5,000 or so followers: The creators would soon board their flying saucers and return. It was time to prepare.
And so Vorilhon called for beautiful young women in his group to step forward as hostesses for the arriving aliens. Members of the elite Order of the Angels were to devote themselves fully -- and in some cases sexually -- to the creators and their prophet on Earth, Vorilhon. According to former members, well more than 100 women volunteered.
It is an unusual tale, but the strangest part may be this: Today, Vorilhon has won a prominent role in one of the most sober policy decisions before the U.S. Congress -- whether to outlaw human cloning, even as a research tool that might help cure disease.
At the direction of the aliens, Vorilhon says, his group is working to create the world's first cloned child. Some of the Angels have agreed to act as the egg donors and surrogate mothers that the process requires.
Cloning "is the key to eternal life; that's the goal," Vorilhon said at his Canadian headquarters, called UFOland, which features a large model of a UFO he says he boarded in 1973 to meet an alien scientist.
Now, with Congress engaged in an emotional battle over whether to ban human cloning, lawmakers are also debating whether to take the French-born religious leader seriously. Is he truly a rogue cloner, an example of why regulation might be needed? Or is he merely a charlatan, riding the public's unease over cloning to gain publicity for his religion?
It is impossible to determine, yet lawmakers have made Vorilhon part of their debate. And that has some medical researchers hugely frustrated. They say Vorilhon, who calls himself the Prophet Rael and testified before Congress last year in a futuristic white jumpsuit, has made cloning look unduly creepy. His cloning claims, they say, are pushing lawmakers to ban the technique not only as a way to produce children, but as a potential method for growing new cells for Alzheimer's patients, heart attack victims and other people whose own tissues have gone awry.
"For those of us who want a reasoned debate, it's been a disaster to have him come out of the woodwork," complained Michael West, chief executive of Advanced Cell Technology Inc., a Massachusetts company that aims to create cloned human embryos for disease research. "This is absurd. It's a circus. Why is Congress debating this by talking to someone who says he flies around in flying saucers?"
And yet, some biologists say if it is possible to create a baby through cloning, Vorilhon and his Raelian Movement might be the first to do it.
Scientists have successfully cloned cows, pigs and several other species, most recently cats. But each birth has followed scores of failed or aborted pregnancies, and cloned offspring are often unhealthy. Given the risks, what woman would help create or carry a cloned embryo?
"For anyone to be successful, it will take a lot of eggs, a lot of wombs, and a lot of guts now," said Lee Silver, a professor of molecular biology and public affairs at Princeton University. "The Raelians seem to have a hold on all three."
For some lawmakers, that means no one should be permitted to produce a cloned embryo for any purpose, whether for reproduction or medical research. "Once you have these embryos around, and if groups like the Raelians had access, I don't think it would be difficult for them to succeed," said Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., a physician. The House has already voted to bar the creation of cloned human embryos for any purpose, and a Senate vote is expected within weeks.
In the summer of 2000, Vorilhon said aAmerican investor said he was willing to put up $500,000 to clone his 10-month-old son, who had died during heart surgery.
One of his followers, who holds two doctorates in chemistry, became the company's scientific director and Vorilhon created a company, Clonaid.
As a sign of Clonaid's credibility, it introduced several of the 50 Raelian women who had agreed to act as egg donors and surrogate mothers. Most of them are angels, Vorilhon said.