House chair questions FDA role in human cloning

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., Wednesday questioned the ability of the Food and Drug Administration to regulate human cloning, and promised to consider legislation.

"Since the FDA generally does not have the authority to ban cloning on moral and ethical grounds, I am concerned that one day the FDA might be forced to approve a human cloning project if it found it safe. The Congress may need to pass legislation to ban human cloning or take other actions to firm up FDA's policies or grant enforcement authority to another agency," he said.

Tauzin made his comments at a hearing in which a religious cult that is trying to clone humans testified. Rael, the leader of the Raelian movement, is also founder of the Clonaid human cloning project.

Other members of the committee, from both sides of the aisle, also seemed to indicate that legislation may be needed.