The failure to reach an agreement in the EU Council of Ministers on 3 December, on the ethical restrictions to be adopted in terms of research on stem cells, has led to “disappointment and concern” being voiced by the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community ( COMECE). In a communiqué, COMECE affirms that “ethical concerns about research that entails the destruction of human embryos are based not only on religious motivations and age-old convictions, but also on historical and scientific precedents. And they are shared both by the Catholic Church and by the other Christian Churches”. According to COMECE, “the fact ought to be stressed that the question being examined by the Council of Ministers was not the legalization of such research, but whether it should be financed with EU funds. It is not an ethically neutral decision. Accepting EU funding for research on stem cells, and in particular for the acquisition of these stem cells, would mean legitimising the techniques used to procure them and hence the destruction of human embryos. According to the principle of subsidiarity, decisions of this nature are up to member states to take”.
