March 7, 2001: Cloning - Brian Alexander | Open Lines | Antichrist Letter
In the second segment, journalist Brian Alexander from Wired Magazine joins to discuss his six-month investigation into human cloning. He explains that a true genetic copy is impossible due to mitochondrial DNA from the donor egg, that cloning may have already occurred accidentally during standard fertility procedures, and that infertile couples are the primary clients seeking this technology. Alexander warns that 95 to 97 percent of animal cloning attempts still end in failure.
Open lines round out the broadcast with callers weighing in on school shootings, the nature of evil, and the Alternative 3 broadcast. A caller from Hawaii shares a ghost encounter with his recently deceased grandfather, and Art fields questions about everything from ham radio to the prospect of interviewing the alleged Antichrist.
Key Moments
Cloning may have already happened by accident: Brian Alexander explains that during ICSI fertility procedures, technicians can mistakenly inject a cumulus cell instead of a sperm cell, which the egg treats like a sperm and produces a clone unwittingly.
Why a clone is never an exact copy: Alexander dismantles the myth of cloning producing identical replicas, explaining that mitochondrial DNA from the donor egg adds about 1-1.5 percent genetic difference - comparable to the gap between humans and apes.
No US laws against human cloning: Art Bell raises the regulatory vacuum: there are no American laws prohibiting human cloning despite expected high failure rates and likely birth of severely disfigured infants. Alexander agrees the danger is real but concedes the work will proceed.
Raelians and the soul-chip immortality plan: Alexander recounts sitting with Rael in Quebec to discuss downloading a person's consciousness into a freshly cloned 17-year-old body every 700-800 years, and notes the broader theoretical concept of a soul chip.
Cloning could be done in a closet, undetected: Alexander reports that any of 300 IVF clinics worldwide could have already cloned a human - all that's needed is a molecular biologist, an IVF doctor, and a small closet, and the procedure looks indistinguishable from standard IVF work.