WRITTEN QUESTION E-2251/00 by Lone Dybkjær (ELDR) to the Commission. Bioethics.
Date: 2000-07-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU research policy, bio-ethics

20.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 89 E/167

(2001/C 89 E/189)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2251/00

by Lone Dybkj(cid:230)r (ELDR) to the Commission

(7 July 2000)

Subject: Bioethics

This question is intended to clarify the Commission(cid:146)s priorities as part of the Fifth RTD Framework
Programme, and in particular why bioethics seems to have been given lower priority in the part of the
Framework Programme which deals with quality of life and management of living resources.

Biosciences are developing very rapidly. The technical possibilities offered by research into GMOs, micro-
organisms, etc. are blurring the limits of what is permissible in terms of research. Nevertheless, in the Fifth
Framework Programme, the Commission has earmarked only € 10 m. over a four-year period for research
into ethical, legal and social aspects, thus greatly limiting the prospects for a joint European debate on the
ethical consequences of research.

To what extent, therefore, would the Commission be prepared to devote greater attention to this subject
over the next few years?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(8 September 2000)

As outlined in the Commission(cid:146)s communication of January 2000 on the European research area (1), the
Commission attaches great importance to the development of a shared vision on ethical issues in Europe,
especially in the context of life sciences. Research on bio-ethics will play an indispensable role in this
context.

Under the fifth framework programme, bioethics is one of the action lines of (cid:145)Generic RTD activities(cid:146) and
has to compete for resources with other heavily over-subscribed areas of the quality of life and manage-
ment of living resources programme (QoL). Under the first QoL call for proposals (2 deadlines), bioethics
received around 50 project proposals for a total request of € 40 million. The number of projects funded is
8 out of 50, for a total Community contribution of € 4,75 million. Given the importance of bioethics, the
Commission is examining means of publishing two additional calls for proposals for research on bioethics
(deadlines Spring 2001 and 2002) in order to boost resources to this area.

Since many projects elsewhere in the QoL programme have ethical implications, the programme conducts
ethical reviews of those scientific projects involving issues of major significance in bioethics. The ethical
reviews are carried out by pan-European panels of high level experts from different disciplines (e.g. science,
law, ethics and sociology). The Commission has organised such ethical reviews three times already. These
reviews are a valuable mechanism to raise the level of ethical awareness both in the scientific community
and among European policy-makers.

In parallel, under its accompanying measures, the QoL programme also supports specific initiatives
(conferences, workshops) aimed to stimulate pan-European discussions on issues of major significance in
bioethics. These initiatives are an important means for establishing an interface between biosciences, social
sciences and society.

(1) COM(2000) 6 final.