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. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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