The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Should Solidify the Legal Basis for Its Authority over Reproductive Cloning

Abstract

The promise and potential of stem cell research is apparent. However, ethical questions still linger. There is as yet no consensus in the U.S. Congress on how to address the issue of reproductive cloning and media confusion of this and the quite separate issue of therapeutic cloning inhibits therapeutic advance. This paper outlines the need for the FDA to undertake a deliberate process, with input from all stakeholders, to authoritatively establish its jurisdiction over human reproductive cloning so as to foster the life-saving potential of therapeutic cloning.