‘Clone’ parents suspend DNA tests on baby

THE parents of a ba

Thu, 09 Jan, 2003 - 00:00

purported to be the world’s first human clone have suspended tests which could prove whether the claim is true.

The Clonaid company said the parents had decided not to have the tests until they were guaranteed the baby nicknamed Eve would not be taken away.

A lawyer in Florida is asking a judge to place Eve under court protection.

A journalist appointed to oversee verification that Eve is a clone of her mother has already suspended investigations, saying the claim could be a hoax.

Brigitte Boisselier, the scientist who heads Clonaid, said the parents of Eve were afraid of allowing access to the baby because of the pending lawsuit.

"The parents are considering a number of legal implications," she told the French AFP news agency.

"They might decide not to register [the baby] in their country. Eve might not even become a US national," she added.

A lawyer, Bernard Siegel, who filed a child protection case over Eve, told Canadian television he was surprised Clonaid were using his action as a pretext not to undergo the DNA tests.

He told the Miami Herald newspaper: "I'm not advocating that a child be ripped from a mother's arms.

"On the contrary, I'm trying to show that this child faces grave medical risks."

A judge is scheduled to rule on whether the case should proceed later this month.

Mr Siegel filed the lawsuit in Florida, where Ms Boisselier announced the birth of Eve in December.

She said the baby was an exact genetic replica of her mother, a 31-year-old American about whom no other details have been released.

Scientists who have cloned animals have reported a high failure rate in the procedure, genetic defects and medical problems even for clones born apparently healthy.

Ms Boisselier who has links to the Raelian sect which believes aliens created humans by cloning said earlier that proof would be made available.

If DNA tests could not be performed on Eve, other cloned babies would soon be available for verification.

She said a second clone had already been born to a Dutch woman and three more women were in the late stages of pregnancy carrying clones.