Cloning may be 'elaborate hoax' says monitor

Cloning may be 'elaborate hoax' says monitor


The journalist charged with verifying the human cloning claims =
of the cult-linked company Clonaid has now reached the same conclusion as m=
any observers - the claims could well be "an elaborate hoax". Michael Guill=
en, former science editor of ABC News, said he has suspended the independen=
t review process that would have genetically tested the first-born baby to =
prove that its DNA was indeed identical to that of another person.

"The team of scientists has had no access to the alleged family=
and, therefore, cannot verify firsthand the claim that a human baby has be=
en cloned," Guillen said in a statement on Monday. "In other words, it's st=
ill entirely possible that Clonaid's announcement is part of an elaborate h=
oax intended to bring publicity to the Raelian movement."

Clonaid says the first cloned baby was born on 26 December. The=
company claims a second was born in the Netherlands on Saturday, and that =
three more are due by the end of January. The company was set up by the Rae=
lian religious cult, which believes that humans were cloned from aliens who=
landed on the earth 25,000 years ago.




http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/cloning/cloning.jsp?id=ns99993234