Brussels, 05/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European ethics group, whose activities have slowed down at the beginning of the year, while awaiting the renewal of its mandate and it formation by the European Commission (see EUROPE of 26 April, p.13), has a very heavy agenda if we take into account the informal nature of the structures relied upon by the independent figures who form it. EUROPE recalls that the members of the group are not paid and they often have very busy professional activities in teaching and in certain national institutions. The new group, which continued to be chaired by Noelle Lenoir, was strengthened with the arrival of several very high-ranking figures, with two main consequences: its multidisciplinary nature seems increased and it should be a little more sensitive to all of the ethical stakes that accompany or stem from information society. Alongside figures that we already know, such as the President of the Italian authority for the protection of the private life, Stefano Rodota or the British geneticist Anna Mclaren, the group now welcomed the brother of the Greek Prime Minister, Spiros Simitis, who chaired the German data protection commission for 16 years or the Spanish specialist in plant genetics, Father Puigdomenech Rosell.
The group will continue its works on the patentability of human stem cells in order to hand, by the end of the year, the opinion that has been asked of it on this issue by the European Commission President, Romano Prodi. An important opinion as it forms both part of the polemic linked to patents derived in the United States and Australia on human stem cells, but also granted by the European Patent Office to Edinburgh University for animal stem cells as well as in view of a possible revision of the controversial text of the 1998 Directive in the patentability of biotechnological inventions. During the first meeting of the group, Mr Prodi also called on it to undertake works over the issue of the ethics of research in developing countries, an issue that mainly concerns clinical trials, which represent roughly 50% of the research-development spending on a new medicine, spending that is presently located on average at around EUR 500 million. The examination of this issue could also lead the group to looking at all of the problems linked to clinical trials and to discuss the protection of man against experimentation, according to the words of its President, Mrs Lenoir. Commissioner Philippe Busquin hoped that the Group comes to a decision on the next framework research programme. It could notably examine the programmes concerning genomics, biotechnology, information society and the "society/science" dimension, with the ethical aspects linked to "governance". This last aspect opens the way to a significant debate over fundamental rights in a changing world, whose main engine remains the market. The group hopes to be able to finalise its opinions on research during the first half of this year
The next meeting of the European ethics group will take place on 3 July. On this occasion, the group should undertake a revision of its internal regulation and seek ways to perfect its system of "roundtables". It will then gather regularly on the 1st Tuesday of each month. As of next 11 and 12 June, the group will take part in Umea (Sweden), in the presence of Commissioner Busquin and the Swedish Minister for Education and Research, Thomas Ostros, in a conference organised by the Swedish Presidency on the theme "Ethics and biomedical research".