Cloned baby two months away, doctor claims

THE world’s first cloned baby is just two months from being born, according to the Italian fertility expert who claims to be spearheading research into cloning technology.

Dr Severino Antinori, who achieved worldwide notoriety a decade ago when he helped a 62-year-old woman give birth with a donated egg, said he expects the first human clone to be born in January.

British scientists are sceptical about Dr Antinori’s claims and he has offered no evidence to support his research. Experts say there is a high risk that a cloned baby would die in the womb, be born deformed or suffer from premature ageing and an early death.

Dr Antinori claims to have three women patients carrying cloned foetuses, with the first due to give birth early next year. He refused to identify the mother, or give details of her age. "It’s going well. There are no problems," Dr Antinori told a news conference in Rome, where he runs a private fertility clinic. He said he had made a "scientific and cultural contribution" to the project but was not personally in charge of it.

When asked where the women would give birth, he would only reply: "In countries where this is permitted." Dr Antinori refused to give any further details or identify the progenitor; the person who has been cloned. All he would say was that the cloned foetus was healthy and weighed roughly 2.7kg (5.9lbs).

Scientists have cast doubts on Dr Antinori and his associates having the technical capability to produce a human clone, regardless of the ethical problems it would pose.

Scientists believe the cloning process, as it is currently understood, results in genetic abnormalities and reduces life span.

The team that created Dolly the sheep at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh has expressed doubts about Dr Antinori’s research. "It is very difficult to know if there is any substance behind these claims at all," Dr Harry Griffin said.

Dr Sandy Thomas, the director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which examines ethical issues arising from developments in medicine, said: "I would not rule out the possibility that he has managed to do this but I would fear for what the consequences might be in terms of deformities."