Ten days after promising to prove the first human clone had been born, the Raelians - a cult that believes humans were originally cloned form aliens - have today indefinitely postponed independent DNA tests on the baby it claims is a human clone.
The American parents of "Eve" fear a legal action in Florida could lead to the baby being put in court protection pending the outcome of a medical appraisal of the child. A judge will take up the request on January 22nd.
"[The parents] have decided to postpone their decision to grant access to an independent expert," said Ms Brigitte Boisselier, president of the Las Vegas-based human cloning company Clonaid, founded by the Raelians.
"They will allow the test to be performed only when they have the absolute guarantee that the baby will not be taken from them," she said.
"The parents are considering a number of legal implications. They might decide not to register [the baby] in their country. Eve might not even become a US national," she added.
Clonaid's announcement came the day after Mr Michael Guillen, the US journalist tasked with supervising the DNA tests, said he could not go ahead with the verification process.
A former science editor with the ABC television network, Mr Guillen said he was ready to monitor the tests at any time, but added that he did not rule out that the delay could be part of an "elaborate hoax" by the Raelians.
The unsupported claims that two baby clones have been born - on Saturday, Boisselier said a second baby clone had been born to a lesbian couple from the Netherlands - have been met with scepticism by the scientific community.
The Raelians were founded by former French journalist Mr Claude Vorilhon, who calls himself Rael and believes that humans were cloned from alien beings 25,000 years ago, and that cloning will enable humanity to attain eternal life.
AFP