Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-13-Speech-2-036"
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"en.20060613.6.2-036"2
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"The Seventh Framework Programme for research 2007-2013 contains a controversial component, that being research involving the use of stem cells from embryos. This type of research, in which human embryos are killed, is ethically and constitutionally problematic, and the text from the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, on which we are about to vote, does not take sufficient account of this.
I urge the House to vote in favour of the amendments tabled by – among others – Mr Gargani, Mrs Záborská and myself, and also the amendments tabled by the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. These amendments force the framework programme to move away from embryo stem cell research and look for alternatives, which are certainly available in the form of research on adult stem cells and on stem cells from blood extracted from the umbilical cord. These offer excellent prospects for the development of new therapies against diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Moreover, embryo stem cell research is liable to punishment in certain Member States, which would then, through Community funds, be helping to subsidise research that is illegal in their own country. That is in contravention of the subsidiarity principle and does not do much in the way of promoting confidence in the European institutions among EU citizens. The funding of this research is a clear example of an area that should fall within the remit of the Member States.
It is important that politicians do not, through the policies they make, acquiesce passively in the killing of embryos. Research of that kind should certainly not be promoted by the European Union. It is, in that respect, important to recognise that more and more efforts are being made to create no more embryos than are needed for each fertility treatment. This is something that new IVF technology makes easier.
Finally, apart from funding embryo stem cell research, there is another unwanted aspect to the proposal by the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, and that is the review clause. The Committee on Industry would like to review the exclusions from the Commission proposal at the halfway stage of the framework programme’s term. Things that spring to mind are what are referred to as reproductive cloning and creating human embryos only for research purposes, which are not, at present, eligible for European funding. A review of such exclusions, as advocated by the Committee on Industry, would also call into question the otherwise minimal exclusions.
We have to make the right choice now, though, the choice in favour of committing to alternative forms of research without any ethical problems, since the latter does not involve the killing of embryos. We must not compromise the truth that life is worthy of protection, for life is entrusted to us by God and we must not take it into our own hands."@en1
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