Well gosh. I said gosh. Gosh fellas, gosh. They said they were going to do it, and now it looks like they have gone and done it. It is done. What have they done gone and done? Rudundant and duplicant dudes, dude.

   Redundant peoples, duplicant clones of genetic originals are already on the drawing board. Actually, according to Italian fertility specialist Severino Antinori, the clones are already cooking! Antinori claims has had success in using human cloning technology to bring about a pregnancy, the first such case in the world.

  Back in February of last year I reported that Professor Panos Zavos promised the world would see the first clones within 24 months. And now it looks like his prediction has come true!

   "Our project is at a very advanced stage. One woman among the thousands of infertile couples in the program is eight weeks pregnant," Antinori announced at a scientific conference in the United Arab Emirates.

   Antinori said that the embryo was the clone of a VIP and that he had been experimenting to produce human clones "in an Islamic country". Antinori told Giancarlo Calzolari, a friend and science reporter at Il Tempo newspaper in Rome, that the pregnancy is real.

   "He told me it was a clone of an important, wealthy personality," Calzolari said. "However, he was vague when I asked him the name of the woman and to at least describe the father. He would only say that he was a grosso personaggio [a big cheese].

   "I have at my disposal whatever amount of money is needed to reach the result. Imagine, it has been possible to carry out in a Muslim country a kind of research that was impossible to do in the West."

   Dr Antinori runs a controversial clinic in Rome where he has helped women over 50 to have children. For some reason this caused great scandals in Britain.

   According to Gulf News, Dr Antinori told delegates at the meeting in Abu Dhabi that "like atomic energy" cloning could be used for "beneficial purposes - to increase population and open the window of genetic programming".

   As a result of this unorthodox announcement there is a s lot of confusion in the media and scientific community about this revelation.

   "If anybody was doing this on a reputable basis they would be putting it into a refereed journal so that people would actually know what was done rather than what could simply be claims to attract publicity," said Dr. Harry Griffin of the Roslin Institute in Scotland where Dolly was created. "It is very difficult to know if there is any substance behind these claims at all," he added.

   But if it is true, there could be serious big consequences. Scientists worry if they have sufficient experienece and warn of deformities, miscarriage and possible long-term health effects of cloning.

   Therapeutic cloning is legal in many countries. It can generate stem cells tissue that could one day be used for treating diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes. Clones of humans are not actually grown into a baby, they are just matured enough to collect certain cells.

  Of course, the fine line of conception, life and personhood is entirely unclear. The moment when sperm and egg become human being is lost for the time being. So the step of cloning a particular person and bringing the duplicant to term as a full pregnancy is certain to open a whole new debate on the issue.

  So, is it for real or is it memorex? Who knows. But you can be sure that the first human clone is not far away. Soon you may be able to get a new you ... or two!