(1)
Report: Ex-ABC editor tried to sell clone coverage
Sunday, January 5, 2003 Posted: 9:56 AM EST (1456 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) --The former ABC News science editor who said he would verify
claims that the first human clone had been born tried months ago to sell
exclusive coverage of the cloning to the major broadcast networks,
according to a report published Sunday.
CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO and Fox Entertainment all were approached by
freelance television journalist Michael Guillen, The New York Times reported.
At Fox, Guillen proposed a reality-based show on the cloning process,
starting before the births, the Times said. He even offered to produce it
and be the on-air host, but Fox rejected the proposal.
"We thought it was more appropriate for our news department and we referred
it to them," Joe Earley, a Fox spokesman, told the Times.
Another network executive, who the Times did not identify, said Guillen
proposed an exclusive documentary on the cloning at a price of more than
$100,000. The executive said the offer would have given the network too
little editorial control.
Guillen stepped into the cloning spotlight a week ago when he announced he
would organize experts to independently test the claims of Clonaid, a
company linked to a religious sect that believes life on Earth was created
by extraterrestrials. The group claimed it had created the first cloned
human, a girl it said was born to an American mother December 26, but no
DNA tests have yet verified the claim.
Brigitte Boisselier, Clonaid's chief executive, said Saturday that the DNA
testing on the child had been delayed because the child's parents were
concerned about legal ramifications if they came forward. She said they
promised to tell her Monday whether they would allow the testing.
Boisselier also announced Saturday that a second child cloned by the group
had been born to Dutch parents, though no tests have verified that.
Guillen, who said he was not being paid by Clonaid to arrange the testing,
also pitched a story on the cloning process to the Times in May, saying he
was the only reporter allowed to follow a couple trying to have a baby
through cloning involving a Kentucky fertility specialist, the newspaper
reported.
"During the better part of the past five years, I've cultivated close
relationships with all the major human cloning scientists worldwide,"
Guillen wrote in his proposal, the Times said. "In fact, I know more about
what's going on than any of the individual players; that's because they all
confide in me."
Editors of the Times refused Guillen's offer, the newspaper said.
Guillen holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and taught physics at Harvard
before going into television journalism. He worked at ABC News from 1988
until last year. He has a written a few books, including "Five Equations
That Changed the World: The Power and Poetry of Mathematics," which was
named a book of the year by Publishers Weekly.
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
Find this article at:
<<http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/05/cloning.guillen.ap/index.html>>
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(2)
Clone evaluator suspends work, says it may be hoax
Tuesday, January 7, 2003 Posted: 1:27 AM EST (0627 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) --The science journalist who organized a team to evaluate
claims of the birth of the first human clone has suspended his review and
now says the announcement by Clonaid, a company tied to an unconventional
religious sect, could be "part of an elaborate hoax."
"The team of scientists has had no access to the alleged family and,
therefore, cannot verify firsthand the claim that a human baby has been
cloned," said Michael Guillen in a written statement Monday. "It's still
entirely possible Clonaid's announcement is part of an elaborate hoax
intended to bring publicity to the Raelian movement."
Las Vegas-based Clonaid is linked to the Raelians, a religious group that
believes space aliens came to Earth and began the human race through
cloning. The company claims that two cloned human babies have been born,
the first in an unidentified country to a U.S. couple and the second to a
lesbian couple in the Netherlands.
After the birth of the first baby, which Clonaid officials said was dubbed
"Eve," the company said it would allow Guillen, a freelance journalist who
has been covering the issue of human cloning for the past six years, to
conduct an independent inquiry to determine if the baby was indeed a clone
of its mother.
Guillen said he made it "very clear" to Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, the head
of Clonaid, that he would accept the offer only if there were no strings
attached and that the actual testing was performed by unbiased DNA specialists.
In his statement Monday, he said he had assembled a team from two "highly
respected" DNA testing facilities to do the work -- but he has suspended
the effort because they have not had access to the baby.
"When and if an opportunity to collect DNA samples as promised does arise,
however, the team stands fully prepared to re-mobilize and conduct the
necessary tests," he said.
Find this article at:
<<http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/01/06/cloning.scientist/index.html>>
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