Woman to give birth to clone, claims scientist

An Italian fertility doctor who has claimed without proof that several women are carrying cloned babies said today that one of the children would be born in early January, but again offered no evidence.

Dr Severino Antinori told a news conference that a woman was 33 weeks - more than eight months - pregnant with a cloned baby boy and that the child was developing in an "absolutely healthy" way.

In April, Dr Antinori claimed that he knew of three pregnancies - then in the ninth, seventh and sixth weeks of development - involving cloned babies. He said today that the oldest of these was about to be born.

However, according to his statement in April, the longest pregnancy would have passed nine months in mid-November. Dr Antinori would not explain the discrepancy today.

He also refused to specify if he had any role in the alleged clonings. He did say that he would not be involved in the delivery of the baby, but that he had given a "cultural and scientific contribution" to a consortium of scientists involved in the pregnancies. He refused to identify the scientists.

Dr Antinori refused to identify the woman who was to give birth in January or to give her nationality. When asked where she was going to give birth, he said it would only happen in "countries where this is permitted".

Dr Antinori, who runs a private fertility clinic in Rome, gained attention in the 1990s when he used donor eggs and hormones to help post-menopausal women to have children.

He is widely vilified by many genetics experts who have repeatedly dismissed his claims and say they doubt that he is capable of achieving a cloned pregnancy.