When U.S.
Rep. James Greenwood (R-PA) read reports of scientists' plans to proceed
with cloning a human being, he decided it was time to "hold the
clone," so to speak, until his House subcommittee can hold hearings on the
controversial procedure.Greenwood's
Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee will hold a hearing on March 28, to consider the ability of the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) to adequately oversee the research and technology
required to clone human beings.
In announcing the hearings, Rep.
Greenwood cited problems encountered in the process since the successful cloning
of Dolly the sheep. "[S]ince then, the
success of this dramatic but primitive technology has been measured, with most
cloning attempts resulting in severe birth defects, miscarriages or still
births. Now that some scientists appear eager to forge ahead in cloning a human
being, this Committee will examine many of the serious safety and ethical
implications surrounding such efforts,'' stated Rep. Greenwood in a March 13,
2001 press release.
Joining Greenwood was House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
Rep. Billy Tauzin
(R-LA), who stated "There are simply too many unanswered questions at this time. Hopefully, our
hearing will be the first step towards shedding some light on this controversial
issue."
Ranking member of the House
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Rep. Peter Deutsch
(D-FL) commented that while recent progress in cloning technologies held promise
for the future, "such progress has
raised some serious issues that need to be examined, and I look forward to
working with Chairman Greenwood on this issue."
According to this
October
26, 1998 letter issued by the FDA to Institutional Review Boards and
Clinical Investigators, "Clinical research using cloning technology to
create a human being is subject to FDA regulation under the Public Health
Service Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act."
All
studies into human cloning must be pre-approved by the FDA. The FDA may prohibit
human cloning studies if it finds that "human subjects are or would be
exposed to an unreasonable and significant risk of illness or injury,"
during the course of the research.
Questions arising as to the
qualifications, experience or training of the researchers involved are also
grounds for the FDA to deny requests for human cloning studies.
As one of the
most powerful of the federal regulatory agencies, the FDA takes its rulemaking
authority from the Federal
Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, and several
related acts.