Group shows baby 'clone' photo, says proof to come

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - A company that claims to have produced five cloned humans but has not provided any evidence showed for the first time on Monday a photograph of what it said was a cloned baby.

Clonaid, a company linked to the Raelian movement that believes extraterrestrials created mankind, said the baby's parents would soon prove in Brazil that it had the same DNA as its dead, older sibling. Previously Clonaid has failed to live up to such pledges to give evidence of its cloning claims.

The photograph's presentation was the latest episode in what many scientists say is a hoax to publicise the Raelians.

Clonaid said in December it cloned the first human, "Eve."

Rael, the movement's founder, and Clonaid President Brigitte Boisselier showed a computer with a picture of the 3-month-old Japanese baby they said was the third clone.

The picture showed a normal-looking baby in diapers in a hospital incubator. Its eyes appeared to be bandaged.

Boisselier and Rael, whose real name is Claude Vorilhon, were in Brazil to present Rael's book on cloning.

- NZPA