Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-03-08-Speech-2-362"
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Mr President, authoritative media, such as the BBC and ARD, have featured stories about Romanian women receiving large sums of money for donating egg cells that are especially intended for fertility clinics in the United Kingdom. Sums are being mentioned that are higher than half a year’s salary for Romanian women. If that is true, then that is in contravention of the European Directive establishing quality and safety requirements for human tissues and cells, as the Commissioner pointed out earlier. After all, the directive provides only for the reimbursement of costs and compensation for any inconvenience, which the amounts quoted would considerably exceed.
Last Thursday, I issued a press release on this subject, and on Monday, I found an
mail in my office here from the Romanian embassy and a report from the British Government. Romania informs, and I quote: ‘The Global Art Clinic which was performing illegal’ – I repeat, illegal – ‘fertilisation and collection of egg cells was shut down by the Government. The situation is currently investigated by the Prosecutor's Office’. The British Government reports that their organisation responsible for this, the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority), launched a full enquiry and was unable to prove that anything untoward is happening there. The ban that applied during the enquiry has been lifted and the organisation has meanwhile reported an increase in the applications for egg cell imports.
Egg cell donation is not without risks, and women have to sign a declaration that they are aware of these. Why would women donate with so many risks if they do not receive any remuneration? When you open the Global Art Clinic’s website, you go from one surprise to the next. It is a postal order company for babies. You can get sperm flown in, with which an egg cell from a Romanian woman is fertilised. You can select according to age, education, length, hair colour and such like. The embryo is then sent by courier to the future parents to be implanted.
I would like to ask the Commission the following questions. Firstly, the reports from Romania and the United Kingdom are conflicting. Is the Commission aware of what is happening there, on what scale, the level of remuneration involved and whether what is happening contravenes European legislation?
Secondly, according to the Global Art Clinic’s website, its largest market is the US, Israel and the United Kingdom. Can the Commission find out whether there are also customers from other Member States or EU candidate countries and whether such practices exist in other candidate countries against payment?
Thirdly, the directive on the use of human tissues and cells must be transposed into national legislation by April 2006 at the latest. What is the Commission doing to ensure that remunerations do not exceed the remuneration of expenses incurred and any compensation for the inconvenience?
Fourthly, could the Commission give an overview of the relevant regulations, including amounts, in the different Member States and candidate countries?"@en1
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