Cult-linked Company Says Cloned Baby Back Home

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 01, 2003

Cult-linked Company Says Cloned Baby Back Home

"Eve," a baby girl said to be the first human clone, has gone home with her mother, local media reported on Tuesday.

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"Eve," a baby girl said to be the first human clone, has gone home with her mother, local media reported on Tuesday.

The baby went home on Monday, said Nadine Gary, a spokeswoman of Clonaid, a cloning company founded by Raelians, which is a religious cult that believes first humans on Earth were created 25,000 years ago by extra-terrestrials who cloned themselves.

Clonaid stunned the world last Friday by announcing that Eve, a3.13-kilogram baby girl, was cloned from skin cells taken from a 31-year-old US woman.

At the press conference announcing the birth of "Eve" in Florida, the United States, Brigitte Boisselier, chief executive of Clonaid, provided no scientific evidence or any picture of the mother and the child, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The claim was met with worldwide skepticism and condemnation. Some scientists even question the existence of Eve.

Shortly after the announcement, the US Food and Drug Administration launched an investigation to see whether the cloning was conducted on US soil, saying such an act would be illegal without the agency's prior approval.

But Clonaid declined to reveal further details of whether the baby was born outside the United States, and to which US city the mother and the girl would travel.

Boisselier said that the baby is "not necessarily returning to the United States," although she promised that once Eve is at home,an independent expert would carry out DNA testing to prove whetherthe baby is indeed a clone and the results are expected by early next week.

Whether the birth of Eve is a hoax or not, the possibility of human cloning has already provoked some legal wrangles in the United States.

In a daily briefing on Monday, Philip Reeker, spokesman of US State Department, admitted that the prospect of a cloned baby seeking US citizenship and passport was an unprecedented legal situation.

"In the hypothetical situation of a cloned baby, this would be a new situation. Therefore, at this time we would be unable to determine how US laws regarding nationality would apply to this child," said Reeker.

In Florida, where Clonaid announced Eve's birth, a lawyer askeda judge on Tuesday to appoint a guardian for the baby, saying Clonaid is trying to commercially exploit the child and that she needs specialized medical treatment.

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