European Commission dismisses challenge to embryonic stem cell research

The European Commission has blocked a European Citizens’ Initiative that was demanding it cut off all funding for research on human embryonic stem cells.

The Commission concluded that the existing funding framework, which was debated and agreed by EU member states and the European parliament as part of the Horizon 2020 package in 2013, is still the appropriate course of action.

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for research said, "We have engaged with this Citizens' Initiative and given its request all due attention. However, Member States and the European Parliament agreed to continue funding research in this area for a reason.”

Embryonic stem cells are unique and offer the potential for life-saving treatments, with clinical trials already underway, Geoghegan-Quinn said.

Having gathered the requisite number of signatures, the organisers of the One of Us campaign, represented by Patrick Gregor Puppinck, Director of the European Centre for Law and Justice, an Evangelical anti-abortion non-governmental organisation, presented the initiative to the Commission on 9 April and held a public hearing in the European Parliament on 10 April.

Between 2007 and 2013, the EU has funded 27 collaborative projects in health research involving the use of human embryonic stem cells, with an EU budget contribution of €156.7 million.

Renewed support for embryonic stem cell research

The news that the Commission had thrown out the initiative was greeted with a groundswell of relief by researchers, with the League of European Research Universities noting,  “The current provisions in Horizon 2020 already impose very strict but necessary and correct rules, limitations, exclusions and other checks on such research.”

Pierre Galand, president of the European Humanist Federation said, “By rejecting One of Us, the Commission also clearly renewed its support for human embryonic stem cells research, which remains one of the most promising fields for regenerative medicine, reproductive health and genetic disease research.”

Jeremy Farrar, Director of the UK medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust, said, “We are pleased to see that the European Commission has rejected calls for funding for stem cell research to be restricted.  Stem cell research continues to be one of the most promising fields of biomedical research, and any proposal to restrict funding for research in this area would have had significantly negative impacts for health.”

This view was echoed by Alastair Kent, Director of the patients’ group Genetic Alliance UK who said, “Many thousand genetic conditions affect Europeans, of which very few have either a cure or an effective treatment. We need all valid research routes to remain open. Research involving embryonic stem cells is one of these routes.”

Ending EU funding for embryonic stem cell research would be damaging for EU research and competitiveness, according to Robin Buckle, Head of Regenerative Medicine at the UK Medical Research Council. “The MRC welcomes the response from the European Commission and its continuing support for funding for stem cell research,” he said. This will help scientists to translate the burgeoning knowledge in regenerative medicine into new treatment strategies.

During Framework Programme 7 the Commission established a number of collaborative stem cell programmes, which Buckle claimed now have global recognition. “It was essential that the Commission endorsed its existing support in this area as any new restrictions could potentially have been highly damaging to European science and competitiveness,” Buckle said.

European Citizens’ Initiatives

European Citizens' Initiatives were introduced in 2012 to allow ordinary Europeans to help set the political agenda. The requirements are one million signatures from at least one quarter of the EU’s member states.