Brigitte Boisselier

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Brigitte Boisselier bigraphy, stories - Chemists

Brigitte Boisselier : biography

1956 –

Brigitte Boisselier (b. 1956), also known as Brigitte Roehr, is a French chemist and Raëlian religious leader best known for her claim to have overseen the creation of the first human clone. A native of Champagne-Ardenne, she studied chemistry in France and the United States, earning two PhDs. From 1984 to 1997, she lived near Paris and worked as a research chemist and a sales manager for Air Liquide. She embraced Raëlism in 1992; the group was unpopular in France and her conversion led to tensions with those around her. Five years later, she joined Clonaid, a Raëlian organization that sought to clone a human. After her service as their scientific director was publicized, she lost her position with Air Liquide and focused on cloning full-time.

In late 2000, Clonaid announced that they had received a large donation to fund the cloning of a child, and that Boisselier supervised a team of scientists at a secret laboratory in the United States who would soon produce a human clone. For the next year, the project received media coverage—and regulatory suspicion—as Boisselier promised the imminent birth of a human clone. In late 2001, she announced that one had been born and that public evidence would soon be offered. This declaration received significant press coverage in the United States, and Boisselier appeared on many television programs. After a court in Florida launched a child welfare investigation, she stated that the cloned child’s parents had withdrawn their offer to provide evidence of the cloning and would have no further public comment. No evidence of the cloning, or subsequent procedures reported by Clonaid, was ever offered, and the announcements were widely perceived to have been a hoax.

In 2003, impressed with her management of Clonaid and public relations skill, Raël, the founder of Raëlism, announced that Boisselier would succeed him as the group’s leader upon his death. In subsequent years, she has devoted herself to lecturing about the group’s doctrines and serving as their spokesperson.

Later activism

In early 2001, Boisselier promised the cloning of a human child within a year, drawing further attention to her work. A prosecutor in New York began investigating her compliance with local medical laws. Boisselier said that the Food and Drug Administration also surreptitiously investigated her, and Raël claimed that U.S. President George W. Bush was concerned about Clonaid’s work. The caretaker of the laboratory that Hunt had rented grew suspicious about their work and contacted law enforcement. They spoke with the FDA, who searched the site and persuaded Boisselier to suspend her cloning work pending legal clarification. After Hunt was asked by the laboratory’s caretaker to shut down the cloning operation, he broke with Boisselier and criticized her for seeking media attentions. The caretaker also spoke publicly, saying that Boisselier was seldom at the laboratory. Boisselier then announced that she was moving her cloning operations overseas, although never faced charges in connection with the laboratory.

In March 2001, Boisselier was invited to speak at a U.S. Congress hearing on human cloning, and at her insistence Raël was permitted to speak as well. The event garnered public attention, in large part because of Raël’s unconventional appearance. On August 7, 2001, Boisselier attended a widely publicized human cloning symposium at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., Significant media attention was given to Boisselier, who, along with Severino Antinori and Panayiotis Zavos, was one of three participants actively engaged in efforts to produce a human clone. The rest of the attendees were renowned scientists and ethicists, one of whom, Arthur Caplan, dismissed Boisselier as part of the "loony cloning element". In August 2001, U.S. lawmakers banned human cloning. By May 2002, Boisselier said that she had facilitated 10 to 20 pregnancies but had been thwarted by miscarriages.

Claims of success

Boisselier confidently announced at a press conference in Florida in December 2002 that Clonaid had successfully produced a live-born clone, named Eve, for an infertile couple. Canadian sociologist Susan J. Palmer notes that naming the cloned child "Eve" recalls Raël’s teachings that aliens created the first humans through cloning. After the announcement, Boisselier received abundant press, but the media, particularly late-night comedy programs, criticized her appearance and mocked Raëlism. Around that time, Boisselier appeared on many U.S. network news broadcasts and on CNN. She did not provide details about the child or its family, although she was often asked to. She hired a science editor from ABC to supervise verification of the cloning. Many scientists doubted that the Raëlians could overcome the difficulties that human cloning posed, or that they would be able to produce a healthy child. Boisselier said a DNA test was forthcoming and announced that five more clones would be born later that winter. As Raël and Boisselier continued to seek media exposure, journalistic animosity towards them grew.