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The source of this article is The Telegraph: http://tinyurl.com/4he3d EU minefield for stem cell researchers (Filed: 02/03/2005) Some European scientists who want to come to Britain to help develop new treatments using human embryonic stem cells fear prosecution in their own countries. And if these experiments pay off, and lead to new therapies for heart disease, Parkinson's and other illnesses, current laws will create a "crisis of conscience" for the use of such treatments where human embryo research is a crime. At a meeting in Manchester of more than 30 experts last week, the problems raised by diverse European regulatory regimes were discussed by Prof John Harris of the University of Manchester, one of the institutions attempting to coordinate the ethical stance across Europe despite huge disagreements on the moral status of the early human embryo. British regulation is among the most liberal in the world when it comes to reproductive science, making it possible to obtain licences to use human embryos, and even to clone them. While other countries such as Belgium allow human embryo studies, they are banned in France, Ireland and Germany, and this, he said, had created "a headache" for the European Union, which has funded the Eurostem project to erect an ethical framework to cater for different regulatory and moral positions. In the past few years, the pace of embryo research has accelerated, driven by interest in embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to be grown into any of the 200 types in the human body. The cells are being studied for possible treatments for diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's among others. "Whether a French or German scientist would be prosecuted if they came to work here is doubtful but there is no doubt that scientists feel inhibited by this," said Prof Harris, coordinator of Eurostem and a member of the Government's Human Genetics Commission. "They are worried about doing this research and even by talking about it. That is inhibiting the European ideal, the free movement of citizens, workers and knowledge." "This is a problem," agreed Prof Ludger Honnefelder, executive director of the German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences, Bonn. Despite having taken legal advice, German scientists remained unsure of the boundaries set by the country's stem cell Act. A draft ethical framework for stem cell research under discussion at the Eurostem meeting at the end of last week in the University of Manchester urges that citizens – in this case scientists - should not be criminalised for legal activity in one country even if it is illegal in another, nor face discrimination or restriction. The framework was welcomed, though a problem was identified by Jessica Watkins of the Wellcome Trust: ethicists still have some way to go to reconcile national regulations with the European ideal. Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn