Stem cell compromise allowed approval of FP7 by Council
Stem cell compromise allowed approval of FP7 by Council
Agreement was possible thanks to a compromise text drafted by Mr Potocnik. The two sentences made 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 read:
‘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.
