|
  |
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zarrella: Florida lacks jurisdiction in clone case
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- Wednesday morning the chief executive officer of Clonaid, Brigitte Boisselier, told a Florida judge that the human baby her company cloned is in Israel. CNN Correspondent John Zarrella talked to CNN anchor Daryn Kagan. ZARRELLA: Good morning, and a huge development here this morning, Daryn, in a Broward County courthouse. On the witness stand right now, the CEO of Clonaid, which claims now to have cloned three babies. Baby Eve is the one in contention here this morning. That's Brigitte Boisselier on the stand. She was just questioned by Judge John Frusciante. She is now being questioned by Bernard Siegel, the attorney who brought the petition to the Broward County court. BOISSELIER: I haven't seen the child. I have seen videos of the child, but I haven't seen myself the child. SIEGEL: Where was the -- where did the cloning activity take place? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, it's irrelevant to the question in consideration. SIEGEL: Your honor, I would ask at this time that the court supply the information that has been received today to ECF (court docket), so that they may contact the appropriate child welfare authorities in Israel to take further action if ECF deems to do so. FRUSCIANTE: You understand that this court is not seeking to take custody of the child, and if you have any communication with the parent of a cloned child, I want you to make it clear that this court is not seeking to take custody, but just to assure, to assure the safety of the child and that the appropriate medical care is being given to the child. BOISSELIER: I hope they listen to that. ZARRELLA: So now again, the judge, John Frusciante, continuing to question Brigitte Boisselier, the chairman and CEO of Clonaid, that shadowy company that has now claimed to have cloned three human babies, Baby Eve of course, that announcement had come in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, a couple of days after Christmas, and that's why Bernard Siegel, a local attorney here, went to Broward County to juvenile court, where we are again this morning. We were here a week ago, and asked the court to look into appointing a guardian for the child. The judge had said I can't do that, until I establish that there is in fact a child and where the child is to see if I even have jurisdiction in the case. Well today, the big news, and it is a major development, Brigitte Boisselier, the chairman of Clonaid testifying, taking the stand, saying that in fact, the child does exist. The child never lived in the United States, was born outside of the United States, and is in fact, in Israel. So what will happen next? Anybody's guess as to what -- whether the child will ever be brought before the public or whether any independent doctors will get to look at the child. But again, for the first time, divulging the whereabouts of the first human clone, and that country, we are told anyway, is Israel -- Daryn. KAGAN: Well, I mean come on. It's an alleged child. We don't even know if the child exists. And even if it does, it's an alleged clone. We don't even know if it's the first human clone, and they claim there's two other babies. Are those supposed to be in the U.S., or are they supposed to someplace else around the world? ZARRELLA: They're supposed to be outside the United States, as well. One was believed, the second clone, alleged cloned child, was supposed to be in the Netherlands, and the third was to a Japanese couple, and the whereabouts of that child was announced. That was announced in Canada last week. So we don't know the whereabouts of those two alleged clones, but Boisselier taking the stand today is a fairly interesting development. It may be just to get more publicity for Clonaid, which of course is a corporation that really isn't a corporation. It's not incorporated anywhere in the United States, or for that matter, anywhere else in the world, and conducts its alleged cloning activities at places unknown. So still obviously a lot of unanswered questions. Why Boisselier chose Israel if it isn't true, who knows. But at least there is a point from which to start. Now she did say she has only seen videotape of the baby, and she has not herself seen the baby. KAGAN: Yes, of course not. ZARRELLA: And the judge has just now ruled he has no jurisdiction in the case, so that will end Broward County's involvement and probably the state of Florida's involvement in this first alleged cloned baby, Baby Eve. KAGAN: And I think for a lot of people who are watching might end Broward County's involvement, but not the last we will have heard of the woman you're seeing on your screen right now, people who are not shy to go after publicity, and I think a lot of people believe with a lack of any kind of evidence, they have exceeded their 15 minutes. So with that, John, we will say thank you, and move on to other things. John Zarrella in Broward County, in Ft. Lauderdale. Thank you.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
