Ban of Fetal Tissue Experimentation Not Possible Under the Constitution

Michael Schrage’s opposition to fetal experimentation and the eventual development of a market for fetal tissue to be used for medical purposes (“Fetal Tissue Research Without a Transplant Marketplace,” Nov. 9) does not make sense. He does not advance any reason for restricting these activities other than that he finds them personally distasteful, an argument that should carry no weight whatsoever in a free country. Does he also propose to forbid corneal and kidney transplants? Or does he believe that these are different in some way? If so, he does not divulge his reasoning.

But these questions are moot in any case, because the federal government lacks the power to do what he proposes. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that would authorize such restrictions on the activities of our citizens, as they would clearly fall outside the scope of the police power of the state, having no relationship to the protection of life or property. In fact, they would be destructive of both: the fetal tissue, and the lives of those who would be denied the medical treatments using it.

The government can no more forbid the development of a market for fetal tissue, because some--even a majority--find it distasteful, than it can for automobiles, despite the desirability of promoting mass transit. Moreover, such a ban would be unenforceable. The government could not implement such a ban within the United States, let alone worldwide. If fetal tissue becomes a desirable commodity, then it will be available--one has only to look at the multibillion-dollar market for anabolic steroids, most manufactured outside this country, to understand this.

In short, not only would a ban on fetal experimentation and commercial application be unconstitutional--it would be futile.

TIMOTHY A. LAWS

CHINO HILLS