ROME - AN ITALIAN doctor plans to clone the first human by the end of this year, in an unnamed Mediterranean country.

Dr. Severino Antinori, 55, an Italian pioneer of in vitro fertilization, said yesterday that he and a team of experts would carry out the first operation with the blessing of authorities in that country.

In an interview at his clinic near the Vatican yesterday, Antinori said he had a list of 10 couples but was looking for up to 50 more.

The technique will be limited to use in rare cases in which the would-be father cannot produce sperm, he stressed. The idea is to give sterile men whose wives refuse artificial insemination with a stranger's sperm a chance to have children, Antinori said.

``Ask any woman. If her man could not produce even the first stage of sperm, would she prefer to be implanted with the sperm of a stranger and bring up a stranger's child?

``Or would she rather have something which bears the genetic imprint of the man she loves? Any other case is not valid and is only science fiction. That's why my attitude is not irresponsible.''

Dr. Severino Antinori stresses that his technique will be used only in the case of a husband who cannot produce sperm `

In his 32-year career, Antinori has clashed repeatedly with scientific colleagues and the Roman Catholic Church. More controversy can be expected in the wake of his cloning announcement.

Six of the couples on Antinori's list are from Italy; the other four are from the United States, Austria, Greece and Japan. The women have to be no older than their early 30s, but the age of the men is ``no problem.''

Asked how he would choose the first couple to receive a cloned child, Antinori replied: ``Motivation. A couple who have been in love for 20 years, who are desperate to have a child. In one of the cases on my list, the man lost both his testicles in a car crash.''

To carry out the operation, the Italian team - which includes experts from the U.S. and Japan - intends first to remove a cell from the skin on the man's back or hand and extract the nucleus. An egg cell extracted from the ovaries of the woman will also be treated to destroy its nucleus.

The nucleus from the man's cell will then be injected into the egg cell, which is stimulated with electricity to make it behave as if it has been fertilized naturally. The resulting embryo will then be implanted into the womb.

Antinori has used the technique on mice, rabbits and oxen, enjoying a success rate of around 5 per cent.

The method is similar to that used by the University of Hawaii's Dr. Ryuzo Yanagimachi, who produced three generations of cloned mice in 1998 more than 50 identical sisters in all.

Many scientists argue there is no need to produce human clones, given that sperm, egg donation and surrogacy are all acceptable alternatives.