Needed: A Modest Proposal (Letters) (Letter to the Editor‪)‬

To the Editor: On July 25, 1978, the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, was born--and so was a policy nightmare that Franco Furger and Francis Fukuyama ("A Proposal for Modernizing the Regulation of Human Biotechnologies," Jul-Aug 2007) are still trying to exorcise three decades later with their call for a brand new federal agency to regulate assisted reproductive technologies. This new agency is to be guided by what they term "a robust procedure of public consultation" that is, however, "in no way binding" on the actions of the agency. The call evoked no enthusiasm and perhaps even a bit of dread among those offering comments in the same issue. Fossett ("Managing Reproductive Pluralism: The Case for Decentralized Governance") wants regulation left to the laboratory of the states. Fleck ("Can We Trust 'Democratic Deliberation'?") suggests deliberative, democratic processes fueling the regular political process as an alternative to a new agency. Robertson ("The Virtues of Muddling Through") finds the proposed agency a bureaucratic mongrel that only a couple of policy wonks could love. And Johnston ("Tied Up in Nots over Genetic Parentage") is so taken aback by the emphasis Furger and Fukuyama place on having the agency ban reproductive cloning that she never assesses the merits of having a new agency in the first place. These reactions should come as no surprise.