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Stem Cells Put EU in Ethical Quagmire From AFP 04dec03 The European Union Wednesday failed to resolve a bitterly divisive row over whether scientists can use EU money for research on stem cells derived from human embryos, leaving the emotive issue in limbo. A moratorium banning the use of EU funds in the controversial sector is due to end on December 31, but the inability of EU research ministers to resolve their differences clouds the issue in legal uncertainty. Ireland, which is due to replace Italy in the EU's rotating presidency from January 1, signalled it would now shelve debate on the issue. "Regrettably it appears that there is no option that we could carry forward that would win the support necessary," Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney told the research ministers' meeting, according to an Irish diplomat. The European Commission, which first proposed new guidelines for embryonic stem-cell research in July, will from January 1 have the right to propose approval for new funding applications. But that approval will rest with a committee staffed by research experts from the 15 EU member states, where the divisions laid bare at Wednesday's meeting are likely to receive a fresh airing. Opposition to the research was strongest from Germany, the biggest net contributor to the EU's coffers, which did not want to see its money used in the contentious field. Germany, along with Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain, supported a new compromise offer tabled by the Italian presidency that would have created much tighter restrictions on the use of stem cells for research. The Italians' compromise would have created a cut-off point so that only stem cells created before Wednesday could have been used in EU-funded research. And it would have banned scientists from procuring new embryos to obtain stem cells, leaving them reliant on the small number of cells already available. The compromise was rejected as too restrictive by Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Greece, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin said "it would have been easier if ministers had set out clear rules and procedures today". "We will now have to proceed on a case-by-case basis, which will lead to legal uncertainty," he told reporters. Stem cell development is a revolutionary scientific field that uses cells, some culled from fertilised embryos, to repair and regenerate human tissue that is diseased or damaged. Scientists hope the research could lead to breakthroughs in treating diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes. But the issue is an ethical quagmire. The European Parliament narrowly voted last month in favour of freeing up money from the EU's four-billion-euro ($US4.8 billion) research budget for use in the field. But the vote was only carried in the teeth of resistance from many MEPs, notably from countries with a strong Catholic tradition. "We're now in an unsatisfactory solution where there are no guidelines. It just shows you how finely balanced this whole debate was," an EU diplomat said. The most potent and versatile kind of stem cell comes from embryos at their earliest stages of development, but this raises fierce ethical controversies as shown in the EU debate. At present there are only nine requests outstanding from scientists to spend EU funds on the research, out of some 15,000 requests lodged with the research arm of the European Commission. SOURCE: AFP / The Australian http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,8060536,00.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn