I have been very peripherally involved (as in, went to look at the cloned calves) in some of the cloning efforts undertaken at my university. There is a very high mortality rate, a high incidence of genetic defects, and many of the calves died of respiratory dysfunction. In fact, some studies estimate a 95-97% failure rate, and the failures are often pretty ugly. Furthermore, the random genetic defects generated by cloning may be manifested anytime during the life of the clone. This means that an apparently normal clone at birth may develop severe abnormalities later in life.

The claim by this group, affiliated with a sect that believes extra-terrestrials created life on Earth, that they have cloned a healthy human baby sounds false to me. I guess only time will tell, but I sure want to know where the DNA they are testing comes from.

Personally, I don't have a problem with cloning, and allegedly this group has multiple "cloned" babies due in the next few weeks. I do, however, think we should be able to do it flawlessly and repeatedly in animals before we start trying it on people.

One part of the article really did freak me out:

Two of the expected babies were, she {Brigitte Boisselier, head of Clonaid, the company that claimed success in the project-RNS} said, copies of dead children made using preserved cells.

This seems waaay to gross and freaky to me. We are a product of our genetics and our environment. Just because we clone someone that looks just like a dead child doesn't mean that it will behave like the same child, or have the memories of that child, or have the likes and dislikes of that child. This kind of thinking also makes people seem almost disposable - Little Timmy got hit by a bus? No problem, let's just order up a new one.

We get LOTS of requests to harvest cells from dead pets. There are a couple of companies that store the harvested cells in liquid nitrogen, with the promise that they will clone the pet as soon as technological advances make it feasible. One of these companies even operates out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana!