Brigitte Boisselier

The head of a company that says it has produced the first human clone said on Monday that the mother and baby were home following the child's birth last week and genetic proof demanded by scientists and other skeptics should be available in a week.

Brigitte Boisselier, chief executive of Clonaid, which is linked to a group that believes mankind was created by extraterrestrials, declined to say whether the 31-year-old American mother and her child were in the United States or elsewhere.

Her claim to have cloned a human being last week drew skeptical reaction from experts in the field and she offered no proof, but said that genetic testing was scheduled for Tuesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which strongly opposes human cloning, said on Friday it was "taking steps to investigate" Clonaid's claim. It said the implantation of a cloned baby into a woman is illegal in the United States without FDA approval.

Clonaid was founded by the creator of the Raelian Movement, a group that claims 55,000 followers around the world and asserts that life on Earth was sparked by extraterrestrials who arrived 25,000 years ago and created humans through cloning.

(Agencies)