Proposed European research policy weakens ethical guides, bishops' group notes

September 13, 2012

A new proposed European policy on scientific research lacks necessary ethical safeguards, the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) has warned.

The “Horizon 2020” proposal, pending before the European Parliament, fails to enunciate two key principles: the “protection of human dignity” and the “primacy of the human being,” COMECE noted in a critique of the document.

Moreover, the COMECE statement remarks, the proposal omits any reference to the current policy that bars funding for research that involves the destruction of human embryos. Thus the “Horizon 2020” plan offers “an ethical framework which is in fact weaker” than current European policy, the bishops’ group points out.

 

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Further information:

• Horizon 2020: The new ethical framework proposed is weaker than the current one (COMECE)