"I regret Italy’s withdrawal from the bloc opposing research involving the use of stem cells, but the decision is not so totally negative as might have been feared", declared Carlo Casini, Euro MP and President of the Pro-Life Movement (Italy), in commenting on today’s vote in Brussels of the Competitiveness Council on the 7th framework programme for research. "First of all stressed Casini we will have to wait for the autumn for the final approval at the European Parliament". In general, "the document establishes that projects that involve the destruction of embryos cannot be funded, even if it possible to fund projects that regard cell lines already extracted from embryos". The ambiguity, in Casini’s view, lies just here: "The fact of not having placed a precise date on when the destruction of embryos took place indicates a degree of bad faith because researchers might not ask for funding for projects involving the destruction of embryos and do so later for those on cell lines already extracted from embryos". "The ideal Casini concluded would have been to prohibit the destruction of embryos. However, we need to see what can still be done about the ambiguous elements of the text approved today".
