December 31, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 26, 1423

WASHINGTON, Dec 30: A cult claiming to have cloned a human said on Monday that “Eve” was headed “home” amid a raging controversy over the moral principles of cloning.

The president of the group’s cloning company Clonaid, Brigitte Boisselier, said the baby, a carbon-copy of her US mother, would “go home” on Monday night, but declined to specify where home was.

Hours after Boisselier announced the birth of the 3.1 kilo baby, the White House said President George Bush wanted the US Congress to pass legislation banning all human cloning.

“Despite the widespread skepticism among scientists and medical professionals about today’s announcement, it underscores the need for the new Congress to act on bipartisan legislation to ban all human cloning,” said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan.

Boisselier said an independent journalist would monitor verification tests on the mother, a 31-year-old American, and the baby.

Results of those tests were expected by the end of next week.

The Raelian sect, which believes cloning is the key to immortality, has said 20 more baby clones are expected in the next year, the first of which is due to be born next week to a North American couple living in Europe.

In June, the House of Representatives approved a bill banning human cloning, but the Senate did not follow suit, fearing a total ban would hurt the potential for advancing medical research.

But Senator Bill Frist, the Republican incoming Majority Leader, was outraged by the Raelian claim.

“These actions offend our sensibilities and undermine fundamental respect for human life,” he said on Sunday.

US lawmaker Dianne Feinstein, who supports the cloning of human stem cells from unfertilized, donated eggs for research purposes, on Sunday also called for “very strong sanctions to prevent human cloning.”

Leaders from around the world also reacted to the announcement with skepticism and indignation.

The Vatican called the claim an “expression of a brutal mentality, devoid of any humane or ethical considerations”.

Raelians believe cloning will allow human consciousness to be downloaded into successive bodies.

Their leader, former French journalist Claude Vorilhon, started the movement after claiming to have met an alien who told him extraterrestrials had been working to perfect human DNA technology for tens of thousands of years.—AFP