World Congress for Freedom of Scientific Research the bulletin

Number 26, July 2011

• A veiled ban on abortion in Russia. “On the 7th of July, Valery Draganov, a member of the Russian Federation’s Chamber of Deputies (Duma), introduced a bill on the “prevention of abortion and support for a child’s life before as well as after birth”. Read the full article by Antonio Stango.
• ECHR condemns Poland for treating a woman inhumanely by denying her a prompt diagnosis and abortion. The ECHR ruling marks a step that is bound to have a significant effect much beyond the internal legislation to which it refers (that is, within Poland), making for a legal precedent or even a “principle of law” not only for the individual legislation of each Member State but also for the entire EU framework. Read the full article by Filomena Gallo.
• A closer look at stem cell frauds is needed. Once you could check whether clinics had provided ISSCR (International Society for Stem Cell Research) with evidence that appropriate oversight and other patient protections were in place for the treatments they offered. On the contrary “clinic submissions are not currently being accepted? now. Lawyers may reply that it is somehow right to avoid defamation. Since Luca Coscioni Association advocates for researchers and patients, it is doubly concerned with this lack of transparency from some clinics and any worse effects of it”. Read the full article by Carmen Sorrentino.
• EU Eight Framewok Programme for RTD coming soon. Its size and scope are still under discussion, but at least the next 7-year installment of Europe’s massive research and innovation program now has a name. The European Commission has recently announced that the successor to Framework Programme 7 (FP7), slated to start in 2014, will be called Horizon 2020. Read more.

  News in brief:

• “(Poland’s) President against tightening abortion law” (source The Warsaw Voice)
• “Independent Committee Recommendations. No Change for Australian Stem Cell Science” (source Australian Stem Cell Centre)
• “European patent OK’d for iPSC technology of Kyoto Univ.’s Yamanaka” (source The Mainichi Daily News)
• “Embryonic Stem-Cell Approvals Rise” (source Bloomberg)

  Freedom of research and treatment around the world. Take the survey!

  Help complete the survey aiming to gather data that will be added to the existing database monitoring the freedom of research and treatment around the world. Take the survey if you are familiar with the laws regulating one of more of the following areas of biomedical research and/or health care in any country: (1) Assisted Reproductive Technologies; (2) Abortion; (3) Research with Human Embryonic Stem Cells; and (4) End of Life Decisions. If you would like any additional information, have questions or are willing to make suggestions to improve the survey, you can contact at collaborators@freedomofresearch.org

  Edited by Carmen Sorrentino

  An initiative by Associazione Luca Coscioni and Nonviolent Radical Party

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