WRITTEN QUESTION No. 363/99 by Joaquín SISÓ CRUELLAS Cloning in Spain
29. 11. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 341/99 Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission (17 March 1999) The Commission has taken note of the advice from the International council for the exploration of the sea (ICES) about the decline of eel catches and the state of the European eel stock. It is also clear from ICES’ advice that the scientists have not been able to ascertain the underlying causes of the decline. ICES has indicated that there are still considerable gaps in the knowledge about eel biology and fisheries which does not, therefore, provide the necessary background on which to develop a comprehensive management strategy for eel, based on measures that would be practical, operational and that would contribute to an enhanced stock development. More information is therefore needed from the scientists, the Member States and the eel industry before a management system can be developed. The Commission has held a series of meetings with the eel industry in 1998 and further meetings are planned for 1999. In addition, ICES has also been requested to provide additional information in 1999 about possible management measures. The Commission is also prepared to support further research on eel and has provided funds for a project aiming at monitoring the influx of eel- larvae to Europe. In order to justify a ban on exports of elvers, which would constitute a type of trade restriction which the Community has traditionally avoided, it would be necessary to have sufficient supportingevidence and data to support it. At present the scientific evidence to support such a measure is not sufficiently clear cut. In the mean time the Commission is looking at ways of engaging the Chinese authorities in addressing the problem of unrestricted trade in elvers on a bilateral basis. (1999/C 341/139) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0363/99 by Joaquín Sisó Cruellas (PPE) to the Commission (1 March 1999) Subject: Cloning in Spain The first Spanish Committee of Experts on Cloning, composed of scientists, jurists and sociologists, is finalising a report which supports legislative reform to lift the existing ban on cloning and allow it to go ahead in Spain for purely medicinal purposes. The committee, set up at the Bioethics Institute at the Foundation for Medical Science, has virtually completed its study, which is due for official release in June or thereabouts, pending completion of the legal proposal and a resolution of the sociological problem; its findings will be submitted to those in the Spanish Government and the European Union with responsibility for this issue and to other international institutions involved in the cloning issue. The report stresses that, when used for suitable purposes, cloning can be a tremendously useful technique, insofar as findings suggest that cloning techniques can be employed in creating tissue to cure certain diseases. However, it also takes the view that, when understood as an attempt to create identical human beings, cloning poses serious problems and cannot be readily endorsed. Despite the fact that the contents of the report currently being finalised by the Spanish Committee of Experts on Cloning have not yet been released, can the Commission give its view on the extremely complex and controversial issue of cloning? Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (7 April 1999) the Commission consulted its Group of advisers on the ethical In February 1997, implications of biotechnology which issued in May 1997 an opinion on ethical aspects of cloning techniques (Opinion No 9). This examined the different forms of cloning techniques and came to the conclusion that ‘any attempt to produce a genetically identical human individual by nuclear substitution from a human adult or child cell (reproductive cloning) should be prohibited’. The Commission’s position is in line with the above mentioned opinion and, thus, clearly condemns human reproductive cloning. To this end, human reproductive cloning has been excluded by co-decision of the Parliament and the Council from both the fourth and the fifth framework programmes on research and technological development. It should also be recalled that the European Council in Amsterdam (June 1997) adopted a declaration which emphasized the determination of the Member States to take all measures necessary to prohibit human cloning