MEPs challenge EU stem cell research 

In the context of the proposed new EU framework programme for research (FP7), a group of members of the Parliament (MEPs) are calling for the Community to stop the EU funding for human stem cell research. As some EU countries ban stem cell research, the MEPs say it is wrong that taxpayers money from those countries is used to fund the research in others. They thus propose to leave this type of research to the member states and national funding. 

The current legislation on FP6, which the Commission wants to maintain in the FP7, allows, within a framework of strict ethical guidelines, for the funding of human embryonic stem cell research for  the fight against major diseases. No EU funding is possible for "research activities intended to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer".

At the time that the decisions were taken on the FP6, the Council and the Commission agreed that further ethical guidelines would be adopted before the end of 2003 for deciding on and for monitoring the EU funding of human embryonic stem cell research. The final decision on these guidelines is still pending. 

Austria, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland and the Slovak Republic have prohibited procurement of stem cells from embryos, whereas France, Germany and Italy allow the import of new stem cell lines, but not their creation. 

The UK and Belgian policies are the most permissive on the issue - the law allows for the creation of human embryos for the procurement of embryonic stem cells.