Clone claim ‘elaborate hoax'

THE independent scientist and journalist brought in by Clonaid to verify its successful cloning of a human has denounced their claim as a possible “elaborate hoax” and halted his review.

Michael Guillen, a physicist and freelance journalist, said the company, Clonaid, had not given him access to the family of the first cloned baby it claimed was born to an American mother. Mr Guillen, a former ABC science journalist, was to select the independent experts who would perform the genetic testing needed to prove the existence of a clone.

Clonaid, linked with a group that believes life on Earth was originally cloned by aliens, said two women had given birth to babies it had cloned. Clonaid at first said it would present DNA evidence but has delayed doing so.

Leading scientists around the world believe the group’s claim is a hoax. On Saturday, the Dutch branch of the Raelian movement said a Dutch lesbian had given birth to a cloned baby. On December 27 the group said an American had given birth to the first human clone, named Eve.

Usually, scientific claims are accompanied by some kind of proof, and are submitted to experts for review by peers of the researchers before the results are made public, most often through publication in scientific journals.

But the Raelian claims bypassed this process, hitting television screens and newspapers at the height of the Christmas and New Year holidays - when news is often scarce.

However, the British head of the Raelian sect yesterday denied the announcement was a hoax. Glen Carter said Mr Guillen stopped his work because people had accused him of being a “lunatic”. Mr Carter said the sect wanted to get the clones tested as soon as possible to “get the show on the road”.