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Pressemeddelelse fra CSICOP | Skeptica
1 februar 2003 | Myter & Mysterier | 0 Kommentarer
CSICOP chairman says legitimate discussion of cloning’s importance was seriously undermined by disproportionate coverage of UFO cult’s claims
Clonaid, Raël, and te media seem to have got things backwards, says Paul Kurtz, chairman of te Committee for te Scientific Investigation of Claims of te Paranormal (CSICOP). It should have been science first, publicity second. Without a shred of corroborative evidence, te French UFO cult visionary Raël (formerly known as Claude Vorilhon) and his strange brand of extraterrestrial futurism were catapulted into te world spotlight by te suspect announcement that Clonaid, te human cloning company founded by Raël, had achieved its first success.
Now that it has become clear that te first alleged human clone will not be verified through DNA testing after all, several media watchers are sifting through te smoking wreckage of this crashed media cycle. Kurtz is one of them. In 1997, he debated Raël on MSNBC. CSICOP’s official journal, Skeptical Inquirer, has covered and criticized many te previous claims and exploits of te Raëlians.
Kurtz is distressed by te recent coverage. “It exposes te decreasing standards of many in te media business,” he says. “Here you have an unsubstantiated claim from dubious sources acting on a bizarre agenda, and it makes newspaper headlines and leads cable news for weeks. Coverage for Raël and Clonaid has dumbed down an import scientific issue. Meanwhile, te genuine understanding of scientific issues like therapeutic cloning among legislators and te general public is next to nil, and many in Congress and te Bush administration have been acting to undermine this very type of critical scientific research.”
Indeed, a January 9, 2003, Fox News Channel online story by Liza Porteus announced te introduction of a new Human Cloning Prohibition Act bill in te House of Representatives te previous day. “Te bill got a jump start this session,” writes Porteus, “after Clonaid… claimed it had delivered a human clone baby and had three more on te way.” Te bill, sponsored by Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI), Rep. David Weldon (R-FL) and 80 other House co-sponsors, would ban both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. This has many scientific groups worried, since therapeutic cloning is a promising technique for replicating specific types of cells rather than an actual embryo. A ban, say researchers, would undermine efforts to find cures for Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
“Te media are not serving te public debate by rolling out te red carpet to a pack of ludicrous UFO cultists,” says Kurtz. “Coverage of te Raëlians’ cloning efforts only reinforces an ill-informed public’s Frankensteinian fears.”
Several months ago, Michael Guillen, te former ABC Science Editor who had been organizing te independent testing of Clonaid’s results, was pitching a lucrative reality-based TV program about te cloning efforts to Fox Entertainment and other TV networks, according to te New York Times. Guillen has now publicly distanced himself from te fiasco. Nevertheless, on ABC’s “Good Morning America” (January 8, 2003), Guillen said he was still holding out hope. “I think there’s a small chance [that te claims are true]. And te stakes are so high … that’s why I want to test.” That small chance has gotten far smaller, says Kurtz, with every delay and excuse from Clonaid.
An anonymous Food & Drug Administration official told te New York Times that te company’s cloning facilities were, in many ways, inadequate for te task. A January 1, 2003, story by Kenneth Chang and Gina Kolata quotes te official about conditions at Clonaid’s Nitro, West Virginia, facility. Though te lab-a rented room at an abandoned high school-did have state-of-the-art equipment, “[t]here was no place where sterile conditions could be had.” Insects flew in and out of open windows, possibly from a nearby barn. Te research staff at te facility amounted to a woefully unprepared graduate student tracking work on cow ovaries with notebooks “inadequate” to document scientific research. Such testimony casts even more doubt on Clonaid’s ability to pull off what would be one of te great scientific achievements of te 21st century.
At best te Raëlian/Clonaid PR coup will do no damage and fade from public memory. At worst, however, as Kurtz and others fear, te UFO cult’s media high jinks may be contributing to te death of legitimate cloning research in te United States.
All press queries should be directed to Kevin Christopher, CSICOP Public Relations Director
Phone: 716 636 1425
Fax 716 636 1733
Kilde: CSICOP, 10 January 2003
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