The cult-linked company Clonaid, which claims to have cloned the world鈥檚 first baby, now say a second cloned child will be born in Europe by Sunday.
But scepticism is increasing as efforts to substantiate the claim of the first cloned birth on 26 December with DNA tests appear to be unravelling.
Clonaid was set up by the Raelian cult, which believes people are clones of extraterrestrial aliens. It had promised to allow DNA samples to be taken on 31 December from baby and mother for independent testing. Only if the baby鈥檚 DNA can be proved to be identical to that of another person will the baby be accepted as a clone.
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But Clonaid president Brigitte Boisselier said on Thursday that the tests had been postponed in order to protect the parents鈥� identities. This follows a Florida lawyer asking a state court to appoint a legal guardian for the baby girl, nicknamed Eve. Boisselier claims the parents are concerned that the person appointed to carry out the DNA tests may have to reveal their identity to the court.
48 hours
鈥淭he parents told me they are giving themselves another 48 hours to decide whether or not they will do the tests,鈥� she told the France 2 television station. She added that tests might instead be performed on the second child: 鈥淧erhaps the second child will be more accessible because it is in Europe and the country in which he or she will be born may be less sensitive.鈥�
Clonaid鈥檚 attempts to prove their claim has also been undermined by criticism of the journalist they have asked to oversee the verification process. Michael Guillen was formerly science editor at US television station ABC.
But Robert Park, a physicist at the University of Maryland and prominent critic of pseudo-science, says Guillen has covered topics such as astrology and psychokinesis with a high degree of credulity. Of Guillen鈥檚 doctorate, gained at Cornell University, Park says: 鈥淎 PhD in physics is not an inoculation against foolishness.鈥�
Abused child
Lawyer Bernard Siegal says he filed his petition to the Fort Lauderdale court because, if true, the cloned baby was an 鈥渁bused child that was being exploited by Clonaid鈥� and needed court protection. The petition alleges that, if the child is cloned, it 鈥渋s at risk of having permanent genetic defects, imperfections and mutations鈥�.
He says a hearing has been scheduled for 22 January should reveal the parent鈥檚 identity. 鈥淭heir failure to appear amounts to giving consent of an adjudication of the child to a guardian. They have to appear,鈥� says Siegel.
Clonaid鈥檚 claims have provoked harsh criticism around the world and renewed calls for a global ban on reproductive cloning. But negotiations at the United Nations have been deadlocked over whether to include in the ban therapeutic cloning, in which early cloned embryos are used to provide stem cells for medical treatments.
Mainstream cloning scientists have consistently stated that attempting to clone a baby would be irresponsible and repugnant, given the high rates of deaths and defects seen in the seven mammalian species cloned so far. Many groups also oppose cloning babies as ethically unacceptable.