EU drops cloning ban
Nature Medicine, February 2004
PETER J. VERMIJ
The European Parliament backed down from a proposed ban on therapeutic human cloning after the European Council declared it unacceptable. During negotiations in December 2003, the two bodies of the European Union (EU) agreed on a compromise, saying the new rules will “not interfere with member states' decisions” whether to allow the use of particular types of human cells.
Citing health concerns, the Parliament had adopted the proposal to prohibit transplantation of cells derived from human clones. But the Council insisted that individual countries such as Sweden and the UK maintain their right to allow the procedure.
The compromise cleared the way for much-awaited EU regulation on the use of all types of human tissues and cells. Those rules—which individual European countries can only tighten—regulate donation, testing, processing, storage and distribution of all human tissue material except whole organs and blood. Public and private users have to abide by the same quality and safety standards, which proscribe, among other things, that donors may not gain financially from their generosity.
The European biotech industry, which had lobbied hard for some form of legislation, welcomed the compromise, expressing hope that market regulation of industrial products based on human tissues and cells would soon follow.
© Peter J. Vermij