Clonaid, funded by the Raelians, the sect which recently claimed to have succeeded in producing two cloned humans, has said the first cloned Japanese baby will be born next week, a news report said Saturday.
Clonaid president Brigitte Boisselier told Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) that the Japanese baby would be born on Monday.
The baby was cloned with cells taken from a two-year-old boy who was killed in a car accident, Boisselier told the Japanese television network, without saying where the baby would be born.
Japan passed legislation in 2000 to ban human cloning, making it punishable by up 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million yen ($ 85,000).
The Raelians, who believe humans were cloned from aliens, have provoked outrage, and profound skepticism among scientists, by claiming to have pioneered the birth of two human clones.
Neither birth has been confirmed by independent scientists and the Raelians have provided no proof to support their claims.