WRITTEN QUESTION No. 363/99 by Joaquín SISÓ CRUELLAS Cloning in Spain
Date: 1999-03-01
Institutions: European Parliament, SISO CRUELLAS
Subjects: Spain, bio-ethics, experiment on humans, genetic engineering, report, scientific research, therapeutics

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.