Cloned Baby

December 18, 2002

Cloned baby 'to be born next month in Belgrade'

The world's first cloned baby will be born in Belgrade next month.

The Italian gynaecologist behind the project made the claim in an interview.

Severino Antinori has been denounced by most other leading scientists for his efforts to create the first human clone.

"When the time comes, you will be informed about the birth and the family," said the doctor, who was attending a seminar on sterilisation and artificial insemination in the Yugoslav capital.

He told a Belgrade newspaper: "I think we have made a revolution in the field of genetics and Serbia will be one of three countries which will go down in history."

The newspaper, Nin, said it had followed Antinori to a private Belgrade artificial insemination clinic. The doctor declined to confirm if the cloned baby would be born at the Papic clinic.

Last month, Antinori said the male baby was healthy and had "more than a 90% chance" of being born,.

The doctor, who first announced the cloned pregnancies in April, insisted he had not carried out the procedure himself, and that his involvement was merely "cultural and scientific".

Antinori, 57, shot to notoriety in 1994 when he helped a 63-year-old Italian woman become pregnant through fertilisation treatment administered at his clinic in Rome.

Story filed: 11:47 Tuesday 17th December 2002