A row is once again brewing over the issue of EU funding for embryonic stem cell research. A fresh recommendation to allow EU support has come through from a parliamentary committee in Strasbourg, but this is now likely to be blocked in two weeks either by the EU Parliament itself, or at a Council of Ministers meeting a week later.
Research involving the destruction of embryos as a way to harvest stem cells has proved highly contentious and divisive for member-states. The parliament's industry and research committee yesterday recommended that the current moratorium on EU funding for this work be lifted, a decision that caused consternation amongst some.
The decision raised "huge ethical questions" according to Green Party MEP for Leinster, Ms Nuala Ahern. "This is very contentious, particularly in Germany where embryo research is illegal," she said of yesterday's recommendation. "The German taxpayers don't want to fund this research."
This latest row relates to using money from the EU's 6th Framework Programme (FP6) that is putting €15 billion into community research. The decision to allow even a small amount of FP6 cash for embryo research almost blocked the entire programme when it was launched last December.
This spending was put on hold as a compromise, but now the issue has come back to haunt both the next parliamentary session and a forthcoming Council meeting to be held on November 27th. The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, is scheduled to attend this Council.
The committee's recommendation will now be put to a full session of the parliament, due to sit from November 17th to 20th. A parliamentary opinion on the issue will be passed forward to the Council and then the ministers must decide on the issue.
Ms Ahern believes that the parliament will block any lifting of the moratorium. "I think most members, whether or not they think stem cell research is a good idea, will not accept this when the research is illegal in some member-states," she added.
Any move to lift the ban will face a strong blocking minority, according to a spokesman in Ms Harney's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Germans, Austrians, Portuguese and Italians are strongly opposed to it and have legislation against embryo research, he said. This would be sufficient to block the move either within parliament or at Council level.
The Government's position is that it has no objections to the funding so long as the research is not carried out here, or carried out against the wishes of other governments opposed to the research, the spokesman added. The EU commission, particularly the Research Commissioner, Mr Philippe Busquin, strongly supports the opening up of funding.