FRANCE: The world's second cloned baby will be born in Europe in the next few days, maverick scientist Ms Brigitte Boisselier told French television yesterday, less than a week after making the claim - still unconfirmed independently - that her group had created the first human clone.
Interviewed on the French national television channel France 2, Ms Boisselier said the infant, a girl, would be born shortly in a European country, which she refused to name.
The birth will take place "this week . . . in a few days", she said.
Ms Boisselier is president of the human cloning society Clonaid and is a senior member of the Raelians, a sect that believes in extra-terrestrials and contends cloning is the key to humanity's survival.
Last Friday, the French scientist claimed, without providing proof, that a baby girl cloned from her US mother, was born on December 26th by Caesarian section at a hospital outside the US.
However, Ms Boisselier added that DNA tests that are supposed to give the world independent confirmation that the first claimed clone was genuine, had yet to take place.
This was because of action taken by the US and South Korean authorities against the Raelian sect which has been promoting the cloning, she said. In addition, the parents were afraid that legal action in Florida could result in the cloned child being taken away from them, she charged.
"The parents have gone home and just want to have some peace and spend time with their children. They still need a few days" before the sample can be taken, she said.
A Florida lawyer on Tuesday asked a state court to appoint a legal guardian for the baby girl purported to be the first human clone, saying the infant is being exploited and may have suffered birth defects.
But Clonaid has not disclosed the infant's whereabouts, citing concerns for her and her mother's security. And the lawyer who filed the suit acknowledged the court probably would have no jurisdiction unless the child is in Florida.
Attorney Bernard Siegel, acting as a private citizen, filed the dependency petition in state juvenile court in Fort Lauderdale asking that a judge appoint a legal guardian for the child and, if necessary, place her in state protective custody. "The child is a possible victim of negligent infliction of severe, permanent and possibly fatal birth defects from the cloning experiment," Siegel said.