Clonaid, Any Evidence for Human Clones?

Michael Guillen, the independent scientist and journalist brought in by Clonaid, a cloning firm, to verify its successful cloning of a human, denounced their claim on Monday as a possible ¡°elaborate hoax`` and halted his review. Some are criticizing that the media irresponsibly covered the announcement of Clonaid without proof.

Guillen, a former ABC science journalist, said in a statement, “The team of scientists has had no access to the alleged family and, therefore, cannot verify firsthand the claim that a human baby has been cloned,” and added, “In other words, it`s still entirely possible Clonaid`s announcement is part of an elaborate hoax intended to bring publicity to the Raelian movement.”

The New York Times reported Jan. 5 that he approached ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN to sell a documentary on the cloning effort for more than $100,000 but his offer was declinced.

Dr. Guillen with a doctorate from Cornell University had taught physics at Harvard University and was interested in the subjects such as psychokinesis and astrology, said BBC

Regarding this, Clonaid said, “three more human clones will be born in six weeks,” arguing that the parents of the baby are reluctant to take the DNA test. Founded by Raël, the leader of a sect that believes all life on Earth was created by space aliens via cloning, Clonaid claimed that the firtst baby was born in Dec. 27 last year and the second one was born this month.

“Usually, scientific claims are accompanied by some kind of proof, and are submitted to experts for review by peers of the researchers before the results are made public, most often through publication in scientific journals,” pointed out Reuters and added, “But the Raelian claims bypassed this process, hitting television screens and newspapers at the height of the Christmas and New Year holidays -- when news is often scarce.”

“I think they timed it,” said Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, complaining about the media coverage of the claims. “Nobody should get a story until they produce evidence. No matter how telegenic they are, no matter how many Star Fleet Command uniforms they have, if you don`t show up with a baby or a parent or a DNA test, or some witnesses who are credible, you shouldn`t have a story.”

Dr. Robert Lanza, medical director of Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology. “They are claiming to have the expertise to clone people and they didn`t even buy a home DNA kit?`` he asked. “The samples could have been taken by someone in junior high school. That only adds to their complete lack of credibility.”

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