BioWorld International Correspondent

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Parliament is voting this week to formalize its opinion on EU funding of stem cell research. Following discussion by its committees earlier this month, the Parliament is debating amendments to proposed European Union controls. (See BioWorld International, Nov. 5, 2003.)

In the run-up to the discussion, German Euro-Member of Parliament (MP) Peter Liese - who has led much of Parliament's discussions on the subject - was still insisting on the need for strict ethical guidelines for EU funding of research involving the derivation of embryonic stem cells from human supernumerary embryos. But opinions are sharply divided over just how strict the controls should be among the more than 600 Euro-MPs who will vote.

The Parliament's industry committee wants to allow funding of human embryonic stem cell research and the procurement of embryonic stem cells under certain conditions, but the legal affairs committee wants a total ban on funding of embryonic stem cell research and human embryo research.

Cautious Euro-MPs are demanding that priority should be given to research using adult stem cells and reprogrammed adult cells, or in cases where embryos are to be destroyed in order to produce human embryonic stem cell lines, the prior agreement of the parents must be secured. They also insist that no monetary compensation or any other consideration be granted or promised for the donation of embryos used for the recovery of stem cells. And they are calling for an annual list to be published of funded research projects that use embryonic stem cells, which must include a justification stating why other procedures are not usable.

But others are much more supportive. Many want to scrap cut-off dates for the procurement of stem cells - the current proposal would allow EU funding only when research uses existing human supernumerary embryos that were created before mid-2002. There is wide support for funding research on embryo or fetal stem cells deriving from spontaneous or therapeutic abortion. And there is pressure from Euro-MPs to drop a blanket ban in favor of a more ad hoc approach based on the content of each scientific project and on the legal framework in the country where the research is to be carried out. Leading UK socialist Euro-MP David Bowe is insisting that researchers should have freedom of action and not be limited in using money from the European budget for research.

The diversity of views within the Parliament reflects differences among EU member states - whose ministers will make a final decision on the subject, probably before the end of the year. Vittorio De Crescenzo, the Italian diplomat who chairs the EU committee in which member states discuss research questions, said there still is no consensus on how to move ahead - and most member states have different reasons for disagreeing. Italy, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, is firmly opposed to funding embryonic stem cell research.

The same range of views also was on display at a hearing of experts in the Parliament in Brussels last week. Anthony McCarthy, research fellow at the Linacre Center in London, said that not only research with human embryos, but also research with existing embryonic stem cell lines is unethical and should not be funded by the EU. And Thorsten Trapp from the University of Düsseldorf claimed his work with mice showed that embryonic stem cells develop tumors; since that risk is not under control, he said, the cells cannot be used for therapy. Marie Louise Labat, director of the Paris-based Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, also argued that therapies based on human embryonic stem cells are not possible in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, Andreas Reimann of the European Organization for Rare Disorders reported that most patients in the UK support embryonic stem cell research, but that patients in other European countries are often opposed to it.