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London MEP Defends Vital Research
April 9, 2003 12:00 AM
London's Liberal Democrat Euro-MP has strongly criticised moves by a majority in the European Parliament to severely restrict medical research.
Sarah Ludford MEP voted (Thursday) against proposals from German representatives that could restrict stem cell research in Britain. The procedure is legal here, but banned in some other EU countries.
This research, which supporters say could hold the key to cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, takes cells from human embryos to replace malfunctioning cells in the patient.
Sarah sees stem cell research as a potential breakthrough for the thousands of sufferers of Alzheimer's in London.
She accepted that there were ethical concerns but argued that different countries should seek to resolve these in their own way without imposing a blanket ban on research.
She said: "We are united across Europe in opposing the cloning of human beings for reproductive purposes, but there are different ethical positions towards the (therapeutic) cloning of stem cells."
"I don't believe that we should be curbing the search for medical advances which could cure crippling diseases," she added.
The defeat in the European Parliament took place at the First Reading of a draft European Directive on the testing of human tissues and cells. British and Dutch MEPs will be seeking to overturn the restrictions when they are considered again later this year.
Opinion polls suggest that the British public are broadly in favour of stem cell research, and a survey published this week showed that 70% of people said the use of human embryos was acceptable in research to find treatments for serious diseases.
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