Prodi calls for an open debate on cloning
Cloning technology has been in the spotlight this summer. In a controversial move, the US President, Bill Clinton, gave federal scientists the green light for stem cell research and in Britain, Prime Minister Blair publicly announced his support for qualified therapeutic cloning and will shortly put the matter to the vote in the House of Commons. Now Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission is calling for an open, pan-European debate on the matter. 'The technique of cloning for therapeutic purposes raises major ethical questions,' he said. 'But can we remain indifferent to research which holds out the hope of treating hitherto incurable diseases? A debate is taking shape and different sentiments have been expressed in the European Union. We must respect these differences. However, I believe the Commission can contribute to an open debate that can brings Europeans together around shared values. We must strike the right balance between rigorous ethical standards based on a refusal to exploit the human body for commercial ends and our duty to meet therapeutic needs,' he said. However, the Commission has been quick to stress it has no intention of legislating or harmonising research in this field. Instead it wants to provoke a debate on cloning, with the help of existing initiatives in the Fifth Framework programme and the European Group on Ethics, which is currently preparing its opinion on the matter for presentation to the Commission in November. Under the Treaty of the European Union, the Member States retain the right to set up their own legislation on ethical matters. However the Commission says: 'There is in fact a wide diversity of legislation - or lack of legislation - reflecting a range of very different sensitivities in the countries of the Union....The Commission's aim is to combine scientific and technological development with a clear statement of the values shared by Europeans.' The EU's 1998 directive on the patentability of biotechnological inventions prohibits the patenting of the human body at any stage of development -including the germ cell - or any part of the human genome. Patenting of human reproductive cloning .and the commercial exploitation of embryos or elements of the human body is also banned; and patents for genetic modification likely to cause suffering to animals for no 'substantial benefit' is also prohibited. The directive does regulate the conditions under which an invention based on biological material may receive patent protection, says the Commission, but 'it does not seek to lay down the conditions under which the research itself may be carried out.' Now, in its communication on a European Research Area, the Commission is calling for greater attention to be given to 'shared ethical values' at a Community level. But in the meantime, President Prodi is keen to advance the debate. 'I await with great interest the opinion to be delivered by the European Group on Ethics in November and I intend to strengthen the Group's role,' he announced.