WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4127/97 by Cristiana MUSCARDINI to the Commission. Tissue engineering
17. 7. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 223/57 (98/C 223/70) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4123/97 by Anita Pollack (PSE) to the Commission (16 January 1998) Subject: Advisory Committees How many non-comitology (Advisory) Committees is DG XI responsible for and what are they? Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (2 March 1998) The Directorate general for environment, nuclear safety and civil protection is responsible for the following advisory committees: › European consultative forum on the environment and sustainable development (Commission Decision 97/307/EC of 16 May 1997 (1)); › consultative committee for the implementation of the Community action plan in the field of radioactive waste (Council Resolution of 18 February 1980 (2), renewed Council Resolution of 15 June 1992 (3)); › advisory committee on the control and reduction of pollution caused by hydrocarbons discharged at sea (Commission Decision 80/686/EEC of 25 June 1980 (4)); › advisory committee on the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes (Commission Decision 90/67/EEC of 9 February 1990 (5)); › scientific advisory committee to examine the toxicity and ecotoxicity of chemical compounds (Commission Decision of 28 June 1978 (6)); › consultative committee on waste management (Commission Decision of 21 April 1976 (7)). (1) OJ L 131, 23. 5. 1997. (2) OJ C 51, 19. 2. 1980. (3) OJ C 158, 25. 6. 1992. (4) OJ L 188, 22. 7. 1980. (5) OJ L 44, 20. 2. 1990. (6) OJ L 198, 22. 7. 1978. (7) OJ L 114, 1. 5. 1976. (98/C 223/71) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4127/97 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (21 January 1998) Subject: Tissue engineering European companies working on human health technology applications have refined various techniques to enable skin to be grown in laboratories. One such technique involves growing skin on appropriate support media, such as hyaluronic acid. In the USA a Californian company is selling a product derived from the cells of babies and children who have undergone operations, the price being 700 thousand lire for 6cm of skin. The US technique is used in particular for allotransplantation. In view of the fact that tissue engineering is not concerned solely with skin but also with other tissues, does the Commission not consider that the existing rules on organ replacement should be reinforced by means of a new directive supplementing the rules on tissue production?