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More about the human clone:
Where
is the proof of a "baby"?
World's
Second Cloned Baby Is Born, Raelians Say – Reuters, 01/04
Article:
Still no testing of the baby
Zavos:
Genie Already Out of the Bottle on Cloning
Patent
for human cloning method
Genetic
Basis for Cloning Failure
Clonaid Says It Will Offer Proof of Cloned Babies
Wednesday, 19 March 2003
Reuters reports today from Tel Aviv that Brigitte Boisselier, the head of
Clonaid that says it has produced the first cloned humans, said on
Wednesday at a press conference it would show proof of the babies at a
gathering of some of the parents in Brazil next week:
"Hopefully all the proof for the Japanese baby boy who was cloned
two months ago will be shown there."
"The baby in Israel — Eve — is doing well. She is almost three months
old now. The American parents are very happy and they might be in Brazil,
but I cannot announce that yet."
Boisselier further said the other two cloned babies were born in Saudi
Arabia and the Netherlands.
But where are the fifth baby that were promised
earlier?
L.
Ed.
CellNEWS
03-03-20
Clonaid
Says It Will Offer Proof of Cloned Babies – Reuters, 03/19/2003
Clonaid claim their own DNA test’s on babies confirm
cloning status
Mon., 13 Jan 2003, 20:41:49 (PST), or Tues.,
14 Jan 2003, 04:41 (GMT)
Finally, after a long wait and many attempt, Clonaid’s vice president Thomas
Kaenzig has replied to some of the questions put by CellNEWS
to the company. Below follows the interview conducted by email:
Q: How will Michael Guillen's departure from the verification
mission of your claimed 'cloning' affect your future?
Thomas Kaenzig: Michael Guillen said that the DNA matching process
was suspended i.e. delayed until the family is ready. He never talked about
departing.
Q: Can you still confirm the report from Reuters saying the Second
Cloned Baby born?
Thomas Kaenzig: Yes, the world's second clone baby is the daughter
of a Dutch lesbian couple.
Q: Is the first cloned baby 'Eve' still well and alive? And the
claimed second clone in the Netherlands?
Thomas Kaenzig: Yes, both are doing fine.
Q: Would it not be important — even imperative — to make some kind
of chromosomal and DNA analysis on a cloned baby already before the birth,
when still in the womb? I know these kinds of test are not uncommon when
you suspect some chromosomal aberration stemming from either one of the
parents. Is it not quite routine to test amniotic
fluid cells under these circumstances already?
Thomas Kaenzig: We have done matching tests before the birth
obviously. However, we also know that the world is mainly interested in
having an independent expert certifying that the DNA match once the baby is
born. We will proceed with the matching process as soon as possible but we
are not ready to trade in the parents' trust for this. We will proceed when
they feel entirely safe about it.
So, according to Clonaid, Michael Guillen is still very much a player in
the game, which very much can be questioned from his own press
announcements. It is somewhat reassuring that Clonaid says they have
performed some kind of DNA tests already on the babies before birth.
However, since there is no details about what kind of tests, other than a
confirmation of the ‘cloning status’ of the children, it’s quite
unsatisfactory. The important thing would have been to know, preferably,
that the children born didn’t have any chromosomal aberrations as can be
detected with the present, most sensitive techniques available for
preimplantation genetic diagnosis and also from tests performed during the
gestation period.
I guess the next phase in this farce will play out in a Florida Court room,
if Thomas Kaenzig will be asked to reveal the identity and location of baby
‘Eve’.
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