Sect says first cloned baby due soon

spare parts?

I question as to whether this group has the wherewithal to produce a cloned baby.

There are many ethical problems to be worked out, but personally, I see nothing intrinsically wrong with cloning.

My mother always said that I should have a half dozen kids, just like me. Maybe someday, she could have her wish granted!

It seems cruel to me since no cloned animal has yet to survive but then again if the Shakers could have had access to cloning they would not have died out due to their strict rules agains sexual activity.

Why would anyone want to clone a baby?
To me, the answer is - for a power trip. To become the first to clone a human, and to have their name forever remembered, in the same way that Dolly the Sheep and the Roslin Institute are etched in our memories for producing the first cloned animal.
The health dangers cannot be known. The psychological implications for the child are huge.
I hope that the sceptics are right and that the clone claims are false!

I usually try to be open-minded, but this group is beyond weird, as is their spokesperson. The NY Times has a good article today on the TV expert who's been chosen to investigate their claim. As you'll note, Michael Guillen, the reporter, was chosen for a very good reason....

http://nytimes.com/2002/12/30/national/30REPO.html

D'artagnan, I try to be open-minded also. But ever since I heard about this group, I've been skeptical. When I heard that an independent news reporter with the credentials of Guillen had been given the okay to investigate, I began to think maybe the Raelians had honestly cloned a human. It was a scary thought to me. I think Guillen should be scrutinized as closely as the DNA in this case will be. And I have a feeling he will be. Thanks for the very informative link!

I think that the rationale behind cloning is that
certain qualities (very high intelligence, really
exceptionally good health, for example) can be cloned,
leaving the world with, for example, more Einstein like
individuals and/or masses of more healthy people.
There are a whole world of possibilities involved in cloning,
some of them may be great and some horrible. But, it IS
a fact that this is something scientists are racing towards.
The ethical considerations surrounding this topic are
naturally very complex, to say the very least.