• August 02, 2012

Whereas

The States Parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights “undertake to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity” (art. 15, c) 3) and that according to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union “the arts and scientific research shall be free of constraint”.

Noting that

between 2007 and 2013 – through the Seventh Framework Programme on Research – the EU is allocating major resources in order to capitalize on the results of research on the genome of living organisms, including the new potential for treatment and prevention arising from stem cell research;

one of the most promising fields in biotechnology is that of stem cells;

research projects funded by the Seventh Framework Programme offer hopes and prospects to tens of millions of European men and women,

Considering all of the above

We, the unfersigned

Call on the European Parliament to ensure that:

Horizon 2020, the Eighth Framework Programme on Research, confirms the funding of research projects on embryonic stem cells, as well as adult stem cells or Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs);

the research projects will continue to be submitted to legal, scientific, and ethical evaluations as under the Seventh Framework Programme; on the contrary, the additional political evaluation – currently realized through a vote by the EU national representatives – should be abolished;

eligibility to funding is extended to research projects based on nuclear transfer (inappropriately called “therapeutic cloning”).

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