Raelians say third clone to be born today

The Japan branch of the Raelian cult has said a third cloned infant is expected to be born later today.

The Japan branch of the Raelian cult has said a third cloned infant is expected to be born later today.

A Japanese official of the Swiss-based movement, which believes humans were created by aliens, is quoted as saying he had been told by Clonaid - an offshoot company of the Raelians - that the baby boy would be born at a secret location.

Clonaid's previous claims to have created two human clones have been widely dismissed by the scientific community. Many leading scientists have branded the claims a hoax.

Japanese Raelian representative Mr Hideaki Numakura said the baby to be born was cloned from cells of a two-year-old boy who died in an accident more than a year ago.

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He said the boy's parents in Japan had contacted Clonaid and a clone embryo was inserted into a surrogate mother overseas nine months ago. The parents paid Clonaid $200,000, he said.

Clonaid has declined to produce proof of the previous cloned babies, saying the women involved want to preserve their privacy.

The group announced the birth of what it called the world's first human clone to an American woman on December 27th. Since then, there has been a claim of a second birth to a Dutch woman.

The sect says it has about 6,000 followers in Japan and that its total membership is 55,000 in 84 countries.