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.