London, England — European members of Parliament have voted against allowing scientists to carry out research on stem cells taken from human embryos. The vote by members of the European Parliament (MEPs) could now see this type of research outlawed across the EU.
At present, it is legal in the UK but is banned in other member states, while others have no regulations at all.
MEPs will have to vote on the proposed new law again before it can come into effect. It also needs the support of individual member states. However, if a majority of EU ministers back the proposal this type of research could come to an end in the UK.
Pro-life groups oppose embryonic stem cell research because it involves the destruction of a very young unborn child. They support adult stem cell research which is more ethical and has been more effective in clinical trials.
David Bowe, Labour's environment spokesman in the European Parliament, criticised the result.
“I am quite annoyed about it. It is wrong for the religious right to assert its own moral view on the rest of us. There is no moral consensus in Europe on this and it really should be left up to individual member states to decide.”
Bowe said he was confident the proposed ban could be defeated when the legislation is considered again by MEPs. “We are going to start working very hard to endure these amendments don't go through,” he told BBC News Online.
But Maria Louise Flemming, the Austrian Christian Democrat MEP defended the result. “From the moment of the conception, you create all the individual characteristics of a person,” she said.
British pro-lifers are delighted by the vote.
Paul Tully, of the UK Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said: “The UK's national laws on embryo research and so-called therapeutic cloning are some of the most permissive in the world. We applaud MEPs for their stand in support of the dignity of the human embryo today, which is in marked contrast to the morally bankrupt position of our own government.”
According to Tully, the directive would ban all human cloning, both for reproductive and so-called therapeutic purposes, and restrict any research which involves the destruction of surplus IVF embryos.
“This is the third time in as many years that MEPs have signaled their rejection of cloning for experimental purposes, and again today they have acted to isolate Tony Blair's government, whose support for destructive research on cloned embryos is unique in Europe and makes Britain a pariah state on the issue.”
(This article originally from the BBC. Reprinted here courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)
