The Clonaid group run by the controversial Raelian sect claims a third cloned baby has been born to a Japanese couple but offered no proof.
"The third baby was born in Japan on the 22nd in the morning," Clonaid president Ms Brigitte Boisselier told a news conference in Canada. Some reporters were barred from the briefing because for critical coverage of the sect.
"This baby was a baby boy. He was carried by a surrogate mother. He's the baby of a couple in their forties," she said.
"He's the clone of a baby boy who died at the age of two about 18 months ago. This baby died after an accident. We had the time to preserve cells before his death," she said, noting the dead baby had been the couple's child.
But Clonaid has refused to give evidence for its claims to have produced three human clones, and international scientists have expressed widespread skepticism.
Ms Boisselier said the previous two babies - both girls were born to North American and European parents. When asked about proof of the group's claims, she said the lesbian couple who are the parents of the second baby girl, are considering introducing her to the public.
"In a few days, the mothers will make themselves public," she said.
The Raelian cult, which claims 55,000 members worldwide, believes the human race was cloned from extra-terrestrials who came to Earth 25,000 years ago. According to the sect, it has 6,000 members in Japan.
AFP