This episode is loosely based on two unrelated events: the scandal surrounding the mysterious death of Lisa McPherson and also the abduction of Elizabeth Smart.
Dr Huang (BD Wong ) says "Jim Jones got hundreds of his disciples to drink poisoned Kool-Aid because he had a charismatic personality". This is a reference to the Jonestown massacre in 1978. More than 900 people died in a mass murder-suicide by drinking cyanide-laced punch at the order of cult leader, Jim Jones. It is a common misconception that they drank Kool-Aid, in reality it was grape "Flavor Aid".
As of 2024, there is no federal law in the USA which prohibits human cloning; federal laws and regulations only address funding, and other issues indirectly connected to cloning. At the state level, however, there are laws directly prohibiting or explicitly permitting different forms of cloning.