Brussels. Philippe Busquin, a Member of the European Parliament and Former European Commissioner for Research, has signed today a petition calling upon the EU Parliament to allocate EU funds for research on embryonic stem cells for the period 2007-2013 covered by the 7th Framework Programme for Research (7FP) of the European Union.

The petition submitted by Prof. Piergiorgio Strata (Director of the Rita-Levi Montalcini Center for Brain Repair) on behalf of the World Congress for Freedom of Scientific Research and the Luca Coscioni Association has already been signed by 200 scientists, academics and citizens including Nobel Prize winners Donnal Thomas and Herbert A. Hauptman. The petition calls on the European Parliament to ensure that the Seventh Framework Programme on Research at least confirm the funding of research projects on stem cells obtained from supernumerary embryos; and that eligibility to funding be extended to research projects on nuclear transfer (inappropriately called “therapeutic cloning”). The full text of the petition, a first list of signatures and the form to sign the proposed text can be found at the website of the World Congress for Freedom of Research (www.freedomofresearch.org).