MEPs Vote to Support Stem Cell Research

In a controversial decision, the European parliament decided on November 19 to permit EU funds to be spent on new stem cell research. Despite heavy lobbying from religious groups, the European parliament sided with medical researchers and patients' groups because they do not want Europe to risk falling behind in a lucrative area of biotechnology. Although Catholic countries such as Germany, Italy, Portugal and Austria are unlikely to approve of the spending, many thought the vote was an important declaration that Europe will not "be run as if it were a single state with a religious consensus." The new rules will allow researchers to harvest new stem cell lines from frozen human embryos under certain conditions. This may cause a "reverse brain-drain" from the US to Europe, because US President George Bush has prohibited federal funds from being used for research on human embryonic stem cell lines created after August 2001. –YaleGlobal