From Ireland Family and Life website and email. We include the whole message, including contacts at the bottom
Important EU Vote on Embryonic Stem Cells
The Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) Committee of the European Parliament will vote tomorrow (Tuesday, 31st March) on a proposed new directive which could force member states to use human embryonic stem cells rather than animals for the testing of new drugs. Article 13 of the draft directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes - 2008/0211(COD) - would prevent member states from allowing animal testing where there are “scientifically sound, justifiable and practical alternatives that are in line with societal standards”.
While it is legitimate to attempt to reduce the amount of animal testing, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the reason for animal testing is to avoid exposing human subjects to potentially harmful substances. Using human embryonic stem cells requires the destruction of human embryos. The destruction of human embryos cannot be treated as a lesser evil than testing on animals.
Up to now, the EU has respected the refusal of individual member states to permit research on human embryos within their borders. In its present form, this directive could allow for a radical shift in policy in that regard.
It seems that this particular initiative is being hurried through in order to have it take effect before the present Parliament is replaced at EU-wide elections in June. So important an issue merits proper discussion and should not be rushed.
Please contact your MEP and members of the AGRI Committee asking them to vote for amendments which would ensure that member states will not be obliged to use human embryonic stem cells (including amendments 175, 176, 227, and 228).
The names and contact details of the members of the AGRI Committee are available here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/membersCom.do?language=EN&body=AGRI
Please note that they include Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness ([email protected] )and British MEP’s Neil Parish (Chairman, AGRI Committee) ([email protected]), James Nicholson ([email protected]), Alyn Smith ([email protected]), and Jeffrey Titford ([email protected]).
The full parliament is scheduled to vote on this issue on 24th April.
Contact details for all MEP’s can be found here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members.do?language=EN
This piece does not reflect the reality of the proposal on the table of the European Parliament. The proposal does not address the issue of finding alternatives to animal testing. Rather, it aims to improve the welfare of animals used in scientific procedures, reduce to the absolute minimum necessary the number of animals used in scientific procedures, ensure fair competition for industry and research, and boost the development and validation of alternative methods to replace, reduce and refine the use of experimental animals.
At the moment, there are no Community-approved alternative methods using human embryonic stem cells, and there are certainly no requirements that human embryos are used instead, as you allege. The Commission has not moved from its statement in 2006 which, among other safeguards, stated that no research activity would be funded in a country where that activity was forbidden.
Posted by: Antonia Mochan | April 01, 2009 at 09:09 AM