Strasbourg, 11/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - During its vote on the draft directive on quality and safety standards for collecting, storing, processing and distributing human cells and tissue, the European Parliament very closely followed its rapporteur, German Christian Democrat, Peter Lisse. With 321 votes for, 89 against and 57 abstentions, there were almost a hundred amendments to the paper proposed by the European Commission. May amendments did not, however obtain more than 240 or 250 votes in favour, which does not bode well for the result in the second reading 'where majority qualified voting of 314 votes is required) if they are not accepted by the Council in its common position.
Parliament is insisting on respect for the subsidiary principle and a certain number of ethical principles such as the ban on the commercialisation of elements from the human body, the ban on cloning and the production of embryos for research. It also underlines the field of application for the directive in order to guarantee that all tissue and cells are effectively covered. Among the amendments obtained by qualified majority voting was the one on Member States guaranteeing voluntary and free donations. All donations of tissue or human cells must be done voluntarily and without payment, with the exception of compensation. Detailed rules are set by Member States. Parliament strengthens and outlines the rules to observe for information and donor consent. It adopted an amendment of French Green, Didier Rod, who requested Member States to ensure notification of incidents and undesirable reactions, whereas the European Commission was limiting this mechanism to serious incidents. By adopting the amendments from the PES and UEN groups, Parliament is underlining that the acquisition of tissue from an abortion demands special rules. No abortion can be carried out for obtaining foetal tissue. It will be necessary to ensure by these appropriate measures that no pregnant woman is subject to pressure to abort for obtaining tissue. Parliament rejected the amendment from its environment committee that banned the use of tissue or cells from embryos for transplants. On other aspects of the Liese report, also see EUROPE 2 April p 16).