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Paging Dr. Gupta! Recalling Gupta's Reporting on the "Cloned" Baby

January 09, 2009 5:19 PM

Some in the medical and science communities are now starting to question whether CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is really an appropriate potential Surgeon General nominee given his credulous 2002 reporting on a group connected to the UFO-worshipping International Raëlian Movement which falsely claimed to have cloned a baby.

Raëlians believe that all life on Earth was created through genetic engineering and DNA synthesis conducted by extra terrestrials called the Elohim. In 2002 a group called Clonaid run by a Raëlian bishop named Brigitte Boisselier announced they had cloned a human.

Cable news outlets covered Boisselier's press conference breathlessly and often quite acceptingly, as if maybe her claims were true.

"I was shocked that a group of manifestly nutty and cultish people could command the attention of the major media," recalled Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. "Sanjay and CNN definitely gave legitimacy to this claim that on its face was absurd."

Caplan says the episode had policy ramifications."Some of the subsequent debates about embryonic stem cell research over the years have hinged upon the claim that you might having people cloning embryos to conduct this research," he says. Those fears Caplan says, are "partly driven by the idea that we'll have nuts and cooks cloning people, and that comes directly from this episode. So it did have policy consequences beyond a story badly covered."

Writing in the Columbia Journalism Review in 2004, science writer Chris Mooney criticized journalists allowing the fringe groups' "claims to drive the coverage. CNN’s medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, provided a case in point. When he interviewed Boisselier following her press conference, Gupta called Clonaid a group with 'the capacity to clone' and told Boisselier, credulously, 'We are certainly going to be anxiously awaiting to see some of the proof from these independent scientists next week.'"

**

On CNN's American Morning on December 27, 2002, Gupta introduced the Raëlians' story as follows:

"Everybody has been speculating on this for quite sometime," he said. "An organization called the Raëlians, sort of a fringe organization, and I say that term loosely, but an organization that believes that the Earth was populated by genetic clones and aliens. They're the ones who are going to be having this press conference, and they say that in fact they may be saying that a human baby has been cloned, a genetic match of the mother. So, gosh, I don't know what this is going to all amount to, but I'm sort of anxiously awaiting to see."

During the live coverage, as Boisselier made her way to the podium, Gupta said, "That does look like her. We are talking about Brigitte Boisselier. She is actually the scientific director of Clonaid. That's an offshoot of the Raëlian organization we've been talking so much about. Again, this is an organization that believes the Earth was populated by genetic clones by aliens. Anxious to see what she has to say. A lot of people have been waiting on her. They have been talking about the possibility of cloning a baby for about three years."

Then came the press conference in which Boisselier claimed that "the first baby clone is born."

Her name?

Eve.

"There will be proof, because I know you're expecting some proof, right?" she said.

No proof ever came.

"You know the actual testing, the actual proving, is actually not that difficult," Gupta told Wolf Blitzer later that day. "If there is a genetic match then there's a 99.9 percent chance that this is a clone, pretty good odds that, in fact, it's a clone.  Of course the strange part about all that, Wolf, is that that baby that would be born or that was born would not only be the daughter of the mother but also the twin sister from a genetic standpoint."

Gupta also ran an interview with Boisselier in which she said human cloning was just the first step.

The second step would be "accelerated growth process" so you can clone yourself and "have an adult copy of yourself in a few hours."

The third step and ultimate goal, she said, "is to be able to read, to decipher all the datas in your brain which make you who you are. Your memory, your personality. And to put download it in a clone of yourself. So that's the secret, the key toward eternal life. When you die, you wake up in a young body."

The next day Gupta told American Morning that the group claimed that "the first human clone was born. They didn't tell us where. They didn't show us the baby. There's no pictures. And there's no proof, which is why everyone is sort of left wondering, is this -- did this really happening, or is this somebody who went to the podium and is making these claims?"

In January 2003, Gupta went on the CNN media show "Reliable Sources," where he said that "I think if we had known in hindsight that there was going to be no proof at this press conference, I think that we probably would have pulled the plug."

He said Clonaid "is probably an organization that's decidedly non-legitimate, but it's probably likely that the first human clone is not going to come from a Michigan, a Wash. U. or a Stanford, a legitimate organization, it's probably going to come from somewhat of a fringe organization because of the nature of the opposition toward reproductive cloning. But most scientists in the community believe it's actually going to happen at some point. When is it going to happen, where is it going to happen, who's going to do it? I don't think any of us can answer these questions."

"Not to lend any more credibility to the Raëlians," Gupta said, "but, you know, we're still not 100 percent convinced that they didn't do it. I don't believe that they did. But we're still not 100 percent convinced they didn't do it. They have their reasons for...not providing the DNA evidence."

Gupta also said, "I'm not sure there was another way around this one. It has captured the public's imagination. Cloning will happen. We don't think this is probably going to be it, but I think it was worth covering."

**

Writes Mooney on his blog: "I don't know why Gupta and CNN gave the Raëlians such stunning coverage--but they ought to be ashamed of it. It was terrible judgment, terrible journalism. Gupta has done many important things in his career, and being sent out to cover the Raëlians may not have been his choice. Still, I would personally like to hear him explain this episode in more detail--how such a thing could happen, what went wrong, and what he has learned--if he's going to become the nation's doctor."

Says Caplan: "It was not the high point of his journalism career. I thought was somewhere between a fiasco and a disgrace."

That said, Caplan thinks this shouldn't necessarily derail Gupta being made surgeon general. "The surgeon general is basically the nation's health care communicator. If a person can communicate clearly and understands the media, that's probably a plus."

But it was a "dark bleak episode," Caplan says. "He wasn't alone -- too many in the media ran with this almost irresistible story of nuts in Starfleet uniforms -- but it wound up setting back research funding. Man, it was bad. I'm looking for a lot of repentance."

-- jpt

January 9, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (39)

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No surprise here - this is the world Obama lives in -
CNN, talking heads, news bites, and media personalities, celebrities talking policy. Does he know yet he is really going to be the president over the real, live United States? Or to him, is this just part of a big imaginative play, where is playing the lead role?

Posted by: Interested08 | Jan 12, 2009 8:33:46 AM

we'll have nuts and cooks cloning people?
>
>
I beg your pardon?

Posted by: Violette Aube | Jan 12, 2009 8:27:44 AM

"I think we should clone Mickey Mouse and make him dictator over the United States."
****************************

Would you suggest the Mickey Mouse theme song for the national anthem?

Posted by: kat | Jan 12, 2009 12:31:05 AM

We should take a look at why Dr Gupta is famous. Because of CNN, not because of his credentials as an MD. I would prefer a SG who has been known for his medical expertise, not for being CNN's on call doc and medical entertaner.

Posted by: B-man | Jan 11, 2009 1:19:11 PM

I think we should clone Mickey Mouse and make him dictator over the United States.

Posted by: jms | Jan 10, 2009 11:29:46 PM

Appointing Gupta as Surgeon General is like appointing Judge Judy to the Supreme Court. lol

Posted by: CW | Jan 9, 2009 8:12:02 PM
**********************
Ironically, she'd fit right in with the clowns we
presently have on the bench

Posted by: spacerook1 | Jan 10, 2009 11:10:15 PM

After having had a "we all die of sumpthin"-Joycelyn Elders, what's wrong with a Gupta?

And it should be assumed that once cloning humans is biz as usual there will be "cooks, crazies, govts,etc" playing around with growing humans for parts.

We either let what passes for science to run our morals or we cling to and nurture our morals in order to keep science {and us} out of a new dark ages.

Posted by: bluecollarbytes | Jan 10, 2009 9:56:10 AM

and somewhere in familyville Tucker Carlson lifts his coffee cup and smiles

Posted by: smith | Jan 10, 2009 8:14:12 AM

gupta is more of news and tv personality. obama should select an MD in the trenches at a well known hospital who has hand on medical skills and experience now and in the past. gupta is more of a talking head, a celebrity than an in the trenches MD.

Posted by: Lawrence | Jan 10, 2009 7:06:38 AM

I was shocked at the coverage CNN gave this story at the time. My guess is the piece was assigned, but don't feel that excuses the lack of real medical information in the stories.

Mass communication skills are key to the SG's job, they need to be able to convey basic health information and also raise serious alarm without provoking panic. We need a Surgeon General who will tell us scientific truth.

I think Dr. Gupta could do the job, but I would certainly like to hear something from him on this and more from his peers, too.

Posted by: tiredgirlie | Jan 10, 2009 5:08:00 AM

Am I suprised that a cult sympathizer went to work for Obama... Um, not exactly!!! Neither am I surpised that Obama embraces such a person.

Posted by: please! | Jan 10, 2009 1:33:42 AM

This opens the door to questions about chupacabras during the confirmation process.

Posted by: Danny | Jan 10, 2009 1:14:29 AM

"We are certainly going to be anxiously
awaiting to see some of the proof from
these independent scientists next week."


Did the TV doc say it with tongue
in cheek? Independent scientists?
Or are Raelians some kind
of Scientologists?

Says the media doc: Raelians are a fringe group. That should tell
you he knew they were a bunch of wackos.

But a reporter has to be mostly
polite and cannot be overtly
mocking the group before a
national audience during
the entire course of the
story.

He has to go with the flow
or not do the story at all.

The story is about the Raelians
and not about the reporter's
opinions about them.

Posted by: anon | Jan 10, 2009 1:09:11 AM

"we'll have nuts and cooks cloning people"


will that be before or after they fix lunch?

Posted by: JR | Jan 10, 2009 12:24:52 AM

Gupta will place his support where it's expected, whether it's debunking Michael Moore's documentary or sustaining interest with the Raelian group claims of cloning. But his credibility problems will be mainly with his attempts to bolster Brigette Boisselier's claim on the cloned infant. I recall hearing about her and the group's claims, but the incident never really stuck in my long term memory well because it was all so incredulous. Gupta would be good at furthering anyone's agenda, but I think his prospects for Surgeon General may have been thwarted by giving credibility to the Raliens.

Posted by: kat | Jan 9, 2009 11:27:27 PM

If people start cloning themselves
the world will be overflowing
with "exhaustion" products deprived
of strength, spirit and vitality
that come from genetic diversity.

Posted by: anon | Jan 9, 2009 10:36:36 PM

It does not cost the government a single penny to have one of the best known surgeon and a great communicator to get its citizens to adopt a healthy life style based on scientific facts. Such an approach can cut health care cost by at least half and pretty much eliminate the budget deficit. Dr. Gupta has come a long way since 2002 and every public figure does or says something controversial at times as long as it is not something unethical, immoral or illegal, the person should not be tarnished by that single incident. A perfect example of redemption is Bill Clinton, he did not get banished into obscurity just because of his consensual sexual encounter but he remained very much a public figure doing outstanding humanitarian work. Dr. Gupta would be an outstanding and memorable surgeon general in the same caliber as Koop and Elders, who can hammer into the public psyche, effective messages of busting the epidemic of obesity, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases due to lack of physical activity and poor diet. This job does not require the person to do surgeries or develop a health care plan or get into an argument with SICKO.

Posted by: gjkotw01 | Jan 9, 2009 10:34:54 PM

Dr Gupta is the perfect man for the job. Period !!!

Posted by: Sam | Jan 9, 2009 10:32:04 PM

Let us clone the woolly mammoth
and the dinosaurs. There are
enough humans, too many in fact,
overpopulating the earth already.

Posted by: anon | Jan 9, 2009 10:23:18 PM

1. Michael Moore is an idiot blowhard who thinks he knows everything. Although Sanjay's criticism of his film was wrong in areas, Moore's belief that a single-payor system could exist or thrive in the US is flat wrong. That's not arguing against universal coverage, it's arguing against one entity holding the pursestrings.

2. Of course there are more 'qualified' people to lead the US Public Health Service than Sanjay. He is, though, a very intelligent, capable and caring physician (I say this with first-hand knowledge). I believe that in choosing Sanjay, the idea is to have a competent voice that knows how to communicate health ideas to the public-at-large. It is a re-imagining of the position of the Surgeon General to some degree.

3. Dr. Dorin's comments below are correct to some degree. Sanjay's role on CNN is mostly as reporter/entertainer. However, he is a physician and I would choose him over most egocentric academicians who feel that their title somehow makes them smarter than everyone else. Go to any conference and you'll see them lecturing on how to do a procedure, which they've done a handful of times, to an audience where many have done 1000 times that number.

4. Arthur Caplan is an idiot blowhard as well. He doesn't practice medicine but thinks he smarter than those of us who do.

5. Sanjay is right about the first human cloning. It won't happen here in the U.S. It will be done somewhere 'off the radar'. But you won't know about it until the clone(s) are teenagers or adults. Those responsible will then say "see, they've walked among you and you have nothing to fear". I wouldn't be surprised if a human has already been cloned. Don't believe me? Read up on what has been cloned already - the leap to humans is not far.

Posted by: doc | Jan 9, 2009 10:08:46 PM

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