Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-17-Speech-1-086"
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"en.20031117.6.1-086"2
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"Mr President, as parliamentarians we have a duty to uphold the democratic will of the citizens we represent in keeping with the laws and the constitutions of our sovereign Member States. We must also ensure that in the European Union human dignity is protected and the weakest and most vulnerable are defended. It is unacceptable for human life, whatever its age, to be treated as a commercial product, without regard to that life or the price paid by women in supplying the embryos.
It is deeply disturbing that the European Commission, supported by Members of this Parliament and certain Member State governments, is seeking to impose public funding of controversial and unethical research without proper public debate and without the opportunity for national parliaments to respond. There has certainly been no debate in Dáil Éireann. This proposal is against not only laws and constitutions, but also the conscience of millions of citizens. It also pressures applicant and Third World countries to become part of an EU market-place for human embryo research.
This controversial research has no scientifically positive results and, as our rapporteur has pointed out, is high-risk. Let us not play on the hopes and fears of sufferers. Let us use public funding for adult stem cell research, which has positive scientific results and may be as effective as research using embryonic stem cells. The Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market rejected the Commission's proposal and I urge support for the amendments tabled by its chairman, Mr Gargani, which I have co-signed with other Members.
Last week a key committee in the Irish Parliament also voted to reject this unethical research. There is a public outcry in Ireland. Tánaiste Mary Harney and the Irish Government have no mandate to agree this funding on behalf of Irish citizens. Just as there was no public mandate for an EU Constitution, there was clearly no mandate for this unconstitutional and unethical use of taxpayers' money."@en1
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