# CE2004078EN.01058401.xml

| 27.3.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 78/584 |
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27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 78/584

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(2004/C 78 E/0618)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3552/03

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 December 2003)

Subject:   EU funding for research programmes in Ukraine

Subject:

According to media reports, 700 children disappeared in the region of the Ukrainian city of Kharkov between 1996 and 2003, and the whereabouts of over 300 of them is apparently still unknown. In the ‘Mona Lisa’ programme shown on 12 October 2003 on the German television channel ZDF, serious accusations were levelled at a hospital in Kharkov, where there have been repeated instances of newborn babies being pronounced dead and where there is a high incidence of premature births resulting in death. A mass grave was found with fetuses and babies from which the organs had been removed.

Can the Commission therefore answer the following questions:

| 1. | Is EU aid used to fund research programmes on embryonic or adult stem cells in Ukraine? |
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1.

Is EU aid used to fund research programmes on embryonic or adult stem cells in Ukraine?

| 2. | If so, which institutes or organisations receive the funding? |
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2.

If so, which institutes or organisations receive the funding?

| 3. | Does the Commission believe that other forms of EU aid may be used to finance similar research activities which could involve the use of foetuses or new born babies? |
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3.

Does the Commission believe that other forms of EU aid may be used to finance similar research activities which could involve the use of foetuses or new born babies?

| 4. | Is the Commission aware of a possible connection between the strikingly large number of missing or stillborn babies and research projects on human cells in Ukraine? |
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4.

Is the Commission aware of a possible connection between the strikingly large number of missing or stillborn babies and research projects on human cells in Ukraine?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(22 January 2004)

(22 January 2004)

| 1. and 2. | There is no Union-funded research project that concerns embryonic or adult stem cells research and that involves a Ukrainian participant neither in the Fifth Framework Programme (1998-2002) nor in the present stage of implementation of the Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006). |
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1. and 2.

There is no Union-funded research project that concerns embryonic or adult stem cells research and that involves a Ukrainian participant neither in the Fifth Framework Programme (1998-2002) nor in the present stage of implementation of the Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006).

| 3. | The Commission does not believe that Union aid, and Technical assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) funding in particular, are used to finance research activities involving the use of foetuses or new born babies. |
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3.

The Commission does not believe that Union aid, and Technical assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) funding in particular, are used to finance research activities involving the use of foetuses or new born babies.

| 4. | The Commission does not have any information on statistics for missing or stillborn babies in Ukraine and has no reason to believe that there is a connection between infant mortality rates and human cell research in Ukraine. |
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4.

The Commission does not have any information on statistics for missing or stillborn babies in Ukraine and has no reason to believe that there is a connection between infant mortality rates and human cell research in Ukraine.

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