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

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Wed May 23 2001 - 07:58:34 PDT

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    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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