Scientists have not yet managed to clone a primate, despite concerted efforts to do so. In 2003, US researchers reported using SCNT to create 716 cloned rhesus monkey embryos, but all of them failed to develop. It seems that there may be something fundamentally different about primate embryos that means they will never be amenable to cloning methods that work for other mammals. For this reason, any claims of cloned humans should be treated with the utmost scepticism. But there have been some, and not all made by religious cult leaders. In 2001, fertility doctors Severino Antinori and Panayiotis Zavos announced plans to use SCNT to treat ten infertile couples. Antinori had already hit the headlines in 1994, when he helped 63-year-old Rosanna Della Corte give birth to a son, making her the world’s oldest mother at that time. Antinori and Zavos later claimed that some of the women they had treated were pregnant, but the cloned babies never materialized. Then, at the end of 2002, Clonaid – an offshoot of the Canada-based Raelian cult that believes life on Earth was started by aliens cloning humans – announced it had achieved the birth of the first human cloned baby. “Baby Eve” timed her holiday season arrival well. Allegedly born on December 26, when competition for the headlines was likely to be minimal, the mysterious baby girl received the full attention of the media. Clonaid, which also claimed to have created four other clones, never produced any proof that the baby was a genetic replica of her mother, or offered any details of its methods. Even Antinori expressed doubts that Clonaid had succeeded, and the announcement was widely viewed as a bizarre (and highly effective) publicity stunt.

Despite their unreliability, human clone claims sparked immediate interest from legislators worldwide. Almost immediately after Antinori and Zavos’ first announcement, hearings opened in the US Congress about the feasibility of human reproductive cloning and a potential ban on the practice. Testimonies from scientists warned that cloning procedures were not safe enough to use on humans, and would result in a high rate of miscarriage and deformities. In August 2001, after just six hours of debate, Congress passed a bill banning all forms of human cloning (both for reproductive and research purposes). In the UK, the Government also swiftly passed a one-clause bill, the Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001, which criminalized attempts to clone human beings – but not so-called therapeutic cloning, in which human embryos are created using SCNT for medical research. In 2001, all the United Nations member countries agreed in principle on an international treaty banning reproductive cloning. But before it came to a vote, an alternative, US-backed proposal was put forward, which sought to ban both reproductive and research cloning. The arguments surrounding therapeutic cloning, like any form of embryo research, touch on highly contentious ideas about when life begins. Not surprisingly, the new proposal split the UN, and it has so far failed to agree on any form of human cloning treaty, opting instead for a non-binding declaration. Apparently oblivious to all this worldwide condemnation, in 2002 Antinori again claimed that women in his care were pregnant with clones, but again offered no proof. At this point, Zavos severed all ties with his former colleague, and little more has been heard from the “cowboy cloners” ever since.