FC: Legal barriers to human cloning may be few, from Washington Post

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61636-2001May22.html

   By Rick Weiss
   Washington Post Staff Writer
   Wednesday, May 23, 2001; Page A01
   
   The letter from the Food and Drug Administration got right to the
   point.
   
   "You are receiving this letter because in media reports and on your
   website you have expressed an intention to pursue the creation of a
   human being using cloning technology," it said.
   
   Human cloning is "subject to FDA regulation," the letter warned. "You
   should be aware that failure to comply with FDA regulatory
   requirements may lead to enforcement action."
   
   The March 23 letter went to Brigitte Boisselier, scientific director
   of an obscure religious group that has said it will clone a dead
   child, and to Kentucky scientist Panos Zavos, who recently said that
   he, too, intends to clone someone.
   
   But Boisselier and Zavos say the FDA is bluffing, and they're not
   alone. Many legal scholars say they find little evidence to support
   the FDA's assertion of authority over cloning. They say food and drug
   laws provide no legal basis for stopping doctors from trying to clone
   a person, and if the FDA tried to do so it would lose in court.
   
   Moreover, the prime alternative to FDA regulation -- a congressional
   ban on human cloning -- may be just as untenable. The six anti-cloning
   bills pending before Congress are entangled in the politics of
   abortion. Some legal scholars suspect that even if a ban were to pass
   on the Hill, it might be struck down as unconstitutional because it
   would abridge the fundamental right to procreate.

   That could mean there is little to stop anyone in this country from
   pursuing human cloning.

   [...]



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