May 2001 13 CONGRESSIONAL BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
CAUCUS Fred
Gage briefed the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus on
“Stem Cells: What Are
They & Where Do They Come From?” A packed crowd of Congressional Members and
staff attended. The Food and Drug Ad-
ministration testified
that it claims
jurisdiction over cloning. House Energy and Commerce
Chair- man
Billy Tauzin (R-LA) questioned the ability of
the FDA to regulate
hu- man
cloning and prom- ised to consider
legisla- tion. examine recent
claims that a human being will be cloned
imminently. Brigitte Boisselier, Scientific
Director of a religious sect
known as Raelian, and Kentucky in vitro fertilization researcher Panos Zavos claimed that they are capable of cloning a human in the next eighteen months.
While Zavos said he would not do so in the
United States, Boisselier
indicated that she would conduct
her work in an undisclosed
U.S. location. The Food and Drug Ad- ministration testified that it claims jurisdiction over clon- ing. House Energy and Com- merce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) questioned the ability of the FDA to regulate human cloning and promised to consider legislation.
ASCB member Rudolf Jaenisch of MIT’s Whitehead Institute also testified,
stating strong opposition to
whole-human cloning, characterizing such
attempts as “totally irre- sponsible and
totally misleading. I don’t be- lieve there
is a single normal clone in exist- ence.” A spokesperson for
President Bush said, “the President
believes that no research— no
research—to create a human being
should take place in the United States.” To
that end, Rep. Brian Kerns (R-IN) and Sena-
tor Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) have
introduced bills in their respective houses
of Congress to ban human
cloning. In March
1997, President Clinton issued an Execu- tive Order banning the use of federal money for any
project involving the clon- ing of humans, but no law exists to prevent such
re- search with private
funds. The House
hearing presages
another pro- tracted debate over human cloning this year.
The ASCB’s position, issued
in 1998, has not changed.
It states in part that “if
legis- lation is needed, it should
specifically be concerned with the
reproduction of a hu- man being by nuclear
transfer. At the same time, any legislation
should not impede or interfere with
existing and potential criti- cal research
fundamental to the prevention or cure of
human disease. This research often includes
the cloning of human and animal cell lines
and DNA, but not whole human beings.”
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