A company . . . started by some weird religious sect that believes in aliens . . . claims it has had the first clone birth on earth.

A healthy 7-pound girl, nicknamed Eve by scientists, was delivered by Caesarean section Thursday somewhere outside the United States, said Brigitte Boisselier, chief executive of Clonaid. Boisselier said the girl is an exact genetic copy of the American woman who gave birth to her.

At a news conference, Boisselier offered no scientific proof, provided no photographs and did not produce the mother or child. She said proof — in the form of DNA testing by independent experts — will be available in perhaps eight or nine days.

"You can still go back to your office and treat me as a fraud," she told reporters. "You have one week to do that."

Cloning experts were skeptical or reserved judgment on the announcement, which is certain to touch off fierce ethical, religious and scientific debate. In Washington, the Food and Drug Administration said the agency will investigate whether the experiments violated U.S. law.

I guess we may know for sure whether it's legit soon.

I like the idea of human cloning in that it pisses off religious conservatives. However, I also dislike the idea of human cloning for a number of reasons, including these:
1) One of the primary reasons for evolution is to combat diseases. If we pass down the same sets of genes, then we aren't mixing genes, and thus our human evolution may lag behind that of various diseases. But more importantly to me,
2) Why do that when you can have children from making love? I would rather take my chances with any of the potential genetic possibilities of mixing my sperm with someone else's egg, than walk into a cold, sterile office to offer a blood sample from which to clone a child.

However, if there are other positive things that could come from human cloning, then so be it, perhaps. Then again, I think of 1984, and The Inner Party's control of sex and reproduction. Anyway, it's pretty late.