MEPs vote to ban embryonic stem cell research
pharmafile | October 27, 2003 | News story | |Â Â Â
European MPs have voted to ban the use of human cloning and embryonic stem cells for research purposes.
The vote could lead to EU-wide legislation that could outlaw such research, which is currently legal in the UK and some other EU countries.
Scientists have criticised the vote, saying it could be disastrous for medical research and could limit the development of treatments for a wide range of diseases.
Prof Sir George Radda, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council said he was "very disappointed" with the vote.
"If it were to lead to legislation it would severely limit embryonic stem cell research and its potential to combat serious human diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes by prohibiting the creation of new embryonic cell lines and their possible use in call transplantation".
The amendments to ban the controversial research were proposed by Marialiese Flemming, a member of the right-wing Austrian Christian Democrats. She said: "From the moment of conception, you create all the individual characteristics of person".
Lord May of Oxford, President of the Royal Society, called the result a "cynical manipulation of the legislative process by a small minority. A small group of zealots wants to widen its scope dogmatically to impose their views on the people of the European Union".
Those against the ban say there is little consensus on the subject across the EU, and that such a decision should be left to individual countries.
"The ethical issues associated with stem cell research should be up to each Member State to deal with within their own legal and ethical framework", said Prof Radda. "The UK is in the lead on this and has already put in place stringently controlled research and ethics committees that more than adequately regulate research in stem cells".
The UK Bio Industry Association said a ban would have serious consequences on R&D and would make the EU a less attractive research location.
It is understood that the vote was passed by a majority of between 40 and 60 out of over 620 MEPs, leading to the possibility that it will be overturned in a subsequent vote. The 80-plus amendments to the Human Tissues and Cells Directive will now be reviewed by EU ministers and then passed back to MEPs for a second vote.
The European Commission has recently published a report on the scientific, ethical and legal implications of embryonic stem cell research as part of the Sixth Framework Programme.
