Due date for human clone

last updated 8 January 2015

Rome

The first human being created by cloning is due to be born in January, Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori announced this week. The controversial doctor said that an unidentified woman had been carrying a cloned embryo for 33 weeks and that the fetus was “absolutely healthy.” Many scientists doubted Antinori’s initial announcement last May, when he said three women had been impregnated with clones—but a birth in January could prove them wrong. It would also appall almost everyone. Some scientists favor the cloning of human embryos for medical research, but ethicists, scientists, and governments agree that creating living humans from one person’s genes would cross a dangerous ethical boundary. Antinori, though, has made a career of ignoring boundaries. He became famous by implanting embryos in post-menopausal women over 50.