Human cloning - Claim to spark debate

The claim made yesterday

Scientifically, the claim has been dismissed by leading figures engaged in research, especially by Italian Dr

Severino Antinori, who himself has claimed a patient of his will give birth to a cloned baby next month.

The Italian already gained notoriety by helping a 62-year-old woman give birth, and his own claim of a cloned baby in Belgrade in January has also been treated as dubious.

Brigitte Boisselier claimed that the baby was born on St Stephen’s Day but declined to say where, other than the baby girl was a clone of a 31-year-old American woman who donated the DNA process.

As a member of the Raelian Sect, whose members believe that life on earth was created by extra-terrestrials, the announcement would, understandably, be greeted with some scepticism.

However, the fact she did not present DNA evidence showing a genetic match between mother and daughter is an omission which leaves her claim scientifically unsupported.

Since the cloning of Dolly the sheep geneticists have raced each other to try and produce a process which will be potentially very lucrative, despite opposition from the main churches and pro-life groups.