Despite a doubling in the European Commission's research funding for the coming years, the Commissioner for Science and Research will not seek directly to increase European Union funding for human embryonic stem cell research from current low levels, his spokeswoman has told
At a Brussels press conference earlier this month, the commissioner, Janez Potočnik, unveiled the European's Commission's proposed Seventh EU Research Framework Programme 2007–2013, which will allocate €67.8 billion (USD $88.4 billion)—just under €10 billion a year, double current annual funding levels—for research.
In December, Potočnik told a German newspaper that scientists in European nations should be allowed to use surplus human embryos to create stem cells for research purposes. However, Potočnik has since toned down his enthusiasm, and spokeswoman Antonia Mochan said that funding guidelines in Framework Programme 7, or FP7, would remain exactly the same as in the Sixth EU Research Framework Programme (FP6) 2002–2006. ...
