Germany Calls for EU-Wide Ban on Stem Cell Research
July 21, 2006
Although stem cell research amounts to only a small portion of the bloc's 51 billion euro ($64.3 billion) science budget for 2007 to 2013, it is a highly controversial topic among the bloc's ministers and likely to be subject to a heated debate during an EU science and research ministers' meeting on Monday.
"The European Union science program should not be used to give financial incentives to kill embryos," German Research Minister Annette Schavan wrote in a letter to the Finish EU presidency on Thursday, according to Reuters. "The current proposal from the European Commission and the European Parliament does not rule this out."
Germany -- along with Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania Luxembourg and Malta -- are against the notion that the bloc should provide money for projects in some countries if the same research is prohibited in other member states.
Who should decide on EU standards
European Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik, however, said research funding should not be determined by nations at the extremes, but by the bloc's majority.
"Relying on the ethical standards of either the most restrictive or the most liberal countries would simply be against the principles of the EU," he said.
A May Eurobarometer survey showed 59 percent of Europeans approved of embryonic stem cell research, providing there is some government oversight of the projects.
Laws on stem cell research vary across Europe with the United Kingdom encouraging it, and Germany enforcing a near total ban. This week US President George W. Bush also vetoed a bill that would have permitted more embryonic stem cells research in the United States.
Finland proposes research limits
Supporters of the research say the projects could help in the search for cures to diseases including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's by taking advantage of cells that would otherwise be discarded by fertility clinics. Critics, including the Christian churches, call the use of the cells unethical because it involves destroying human life.
Diplomats in Brussels said they expected Germany to try to win largely Roman Catholic Italy over to their argument and gain enough votes to block a Finish draft that places limits on the types of research allowed.
Finland, who currently hold the rotating EU presidency, presented a proposal that allows funding for research on human stem cells but prohibits money being given to projects dealing with human reproductive cloning, human genetic modification and the creation of human embryos for scientific research.
Impasse could endanger all EU science funding
If the ministers fail to agree on a compromise during the Monday meeting the European Parliament would not be left with enough time to hold a second budgetary debate. 'That could keep other projects from receiving funding next year, according to Antonia Mochan, the European Commission's spokeswoman for science and research.
The EU had a similar dispute on genetic research before it adopted its current science funding package for 2000-2006. The discussion at that time produced a system of a case-by-case analysis that required the approval of several national and EU committees before awarding funds.