EU Council of Ministers Reaches Compromise to Allow Stem Cell Research

The European Union has stimulated collaborative research and development efforts across and beyond it territory through a series of "Framework Programs". The remaining obstacles in the way of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) were swept aside on 24 July 2006 when ministers representing the EU member nations found agreement on funding for stem cell research and nuclear research.

"As expected, it was stem cell research that kept ministers in the Competitiveness Council until well past the foreseen finishing time. In spite of the fact that stem cell research makes up just a fraction of research receiving EU funding (0.4 per cent of the funding for health research in FP6, according to EU Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik), using stem cells for science, and in particular embryonic stem cells, is a sensitive issue in some countries."

Agreement was possible thanks to a compromise text that makes "it clear that activities leading to the destruction of human embryos will not receive funding, while leaving open the possibility of restricted research involving embryonic stem cells. The text reads:

"The European Commission will continue with the current practice and will not submit to the Regulatory Committee proposals for projects which include research activities intended to destroy human embryos, including for the procurement of stem cells. The exclusion of funding of this step of research will not prevent Community funding of subsequent steps involving human embryonic stem cells."

"As in FP6, certain areas will not receive any EU funding: human cloning for reproductive purposes, research intended to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable, and research intended to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or the purpose of stem cell procurement.

"Each project proposal will also be subject to a strict ethical review, and the rules of each country involved in a project will always be respected."

The Seventh Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community) Framework Program had also appeared to be a sticking point but a compromise was found for that program.

The budget for FP7 will be €55.6 billion.