Brussels, 09/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Philippe Busquin presented to the press the proposal adopted by the European Commission with a view to lifting the moratorium on embryonic stem cell research. The proposal provides an ethical framework for such research which should receive Community funding under the 6th framework programme on research.
Mr Busquin said the Commission was proposing strict rules, and insisted on the potential attributed to this kind of research for discovering new therapeutic methods for pathologies such as Alzheimers disease. These rules include: - lack of alternative method (such as the use of adult stem cells); - the lack of parental project and the free and well-informed consent of donors; - approval of this kind of research by the national authority concerned (it is not a matter of financing research on embryonic cells in countries opposed to this, the Commissioner recalled); - the lack of financial gain for the donor; - and rules guaranteeing anonymity for the donor and transparency. In order "not to push forward the creation of surplus embryos", the Commission proposes that research should only be carried out on surplus embryos which already existed at the time when the research framework programme was adopted, on 27 June 2002. This last rule has allowed the ethical objections of some Commissioners to be waived. Philippe Busquin hoped that this ethical framework would allow the Council, upon a Parliament opinion, to lift the moratorium before the end of the year. He recalled that around fifty cell lines of embryonic origin have been recorded to date and that Europe is considerably lagging behind in this research sector at the present time.