Clone Babies
Three more cloned babies due, say - Brigitte Boisselier, managing director of the
Raelian Movement's fertilisation company, Clonaid, told the BBC's
Breakfast with Frost programme that her medical team had created several
hundred cloned embryos before 10 implantation experiments - five of which
were successful.
She said the second child was born to a Dutch lesbian couple on Friday
night, following the birth of a girl called Eve to an American woman on
December 26. "The baby is perfectly healthy, she's doing wonderfully
well," she told Sky News.
Dr Boisselier fuelled mounting scepticism and condemnation by again
refusing to say where the second baby was born or to produce any evidence
to support her claims.
She said that although the American child's parents had promised to allow
an independent expert to verify the cloning claims, they were concerned
that the tests would reveal their identity or cause the child to be
removed from their care.
"I want these tests to happen as soon as possible ... but not at any
price," Dr Boisselier told the BBC.
A lawyer in Florida, where the first birth was announced by Dr Boisselier,
has filed a suit calling for the child to be placed under the court's
protection. The couple are due to make a decision on the tests today.
Harry Griffin, head of Britain's Roslin Institute, which cloned Dolly the
sheep, told Reuters news agency there was no reason to believe "this is
anything other than a publicity stunt".