ISRAEL: THE ISRAELI BRANCH OF THE RAELIAN MOVEMNET HAS SAID THAT THE FIRST CLONED BABY "EVE" WAS IN ISRAEL

Record ID: 400330

  • Title: ISRAEL: THE ISRAELI BRANCH OF THE RAELIAN MOVEMNET HAS SAID THAT THE FIRST CLONED BABY "EVE" WAS IN ISRAEL
  • Date: 30th January 2003
  • Summary: (U6)TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (JANUARY 30, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV/CU KOBI DRORI, A LOCAL SPOKESMAN FOR THE RAELIAN MOVEMENT (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. MCU (Hebrew ) KOBI DRORI, A SPOKESMAN FOR THE RAELIAN MOVEMENT SPEAKING ABOUT BABY EVE, SAYING: "(Eve) is a smiling baby who is completely healthy, (her parents are ) a couple in their thirties, American
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ONTJBZK08JBJ3JNSH2VEUM5Q
  • Story Text: The Israeli branch of the Raelian movement has said
    that "Eve", who they allege is the world's first cloned baby,
    was in Israel but her exact whereabouts would be kept under
    wraps for now.



    Kobi Drori, a local spokesman for the movement that
    believes mankind was created by extraterrestrials, said on
    Thursday (January 30) there were no plans for "Eve" and her
    mother to submit to DNA tests while in Israel to back the
    cloning claims.

    "(Eve) is a smiling baby who is completely healthy, (her
    parents are ) a couple in their thirties, American citizens,
    who were forced to bring her to Israel following an appeal to
    the court by a lawyer named Bernard Segal who is trying to
    ride on Clonaid's wave of success, and take the child out of
    her parents' custody. He is saying she is being exploited for
    publicity purposes," Drori said.

    Expressing scepticism that a cloned child even existed, a
    Florida judge dismissed on Wednesday a petition to appoint a
    state guardian for "Eve", who the Raelian-affiliated Clonaid
    company said was born on December 26 to an American mother.

    Brigitte Boisselier, president of Clonaid, testified at
    the proceedings in Fort Lauderdale that "Eve" and her mother
    were in Israel.

    Drori declined to divulge where the two were staying in
    country, saying only the "doctor that is in charge of checking
    and examining" the baby knows where she is.

    Clonaid has produced no evidence of the cloned infant, nor
    of two other allegedly cloned children it says have been born
    since. Scientists widely believe the assertions are a hoax to
    make money or garner publicity for the Raelians.

    Clonaid has backed away from its initial promise to
    provide DNA proof of the purported cloning.

    The Israeli Health Ministry said it had no information
    about the case. A ministry spokesman said human cloning is
    illegal in Israel.

    The Raelians were founded by Frenchman Claude Vorilhon,
    known as Rael, who claims that an alien revealed to him in
    1973 that extraterrestrials started the human race through
    cloning when they landed on Earth 25,000 years ago.


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