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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Received on May 23 2001
Intro
