According to the French Scientist and member of the Raelian cult, Brigetter Boisselier, it has been observed that a human baby was born yesterday through cloning, the first on record. In a telephonic interview with AFP, Ms.Boisselier, president of the human cloning society Clonaid said that the girl was born by caesarean and the birth 'went very well'. Because the effort by the Raelians to achieve the first human birth by cloning was carried out in secrecy, it was not immediately possible to obtain any independent scientific confirmation that the baby was infact a clone. Ms. Boisselier declined to give further details of the birth saying 'I prefer not to say more for now'.
'We are very happy. It's a triumph,' Cloniad spokeswoman. Nadine Gary, said earlier. If scientifically confirmed by independent sources, it would be the first human baby produced by the highly controversial technique- and announced publicly. It would also mark the beginning of a new era in human reproduction - the first asexual birth, the first time a child was produced that was not the product of a genetic mix of mother and father, but the identical reproduction of one of its parents.In this case, Ms. Boisselier had told AFP on November 27 that the baby would be an identical twin of its mother. She had said that an American couple was expecting the first birth by cloning, a girl, near the end of the year. Cloning provides a genetic duplicate of another creature. The predominant method around the world entails removing the nucleus, or core, from an egg and replacing it with DNA from a donor.
This DNA'reprogrammes'the egg transferring into it the entire genetic code of the donor. Clonaid, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, was founded in 1997 by the Raelians, who claim 55,000 followers worldwide.
