BRUSSELS, July 24 (UPI) -- The European Union voted Monday to keep funds flowing to embryonic stem-cell research.
In a compromise to make the proposal more palatable to a group of eight countries that opposed continuing funding, the EU said its aid would not be used specifically for the destruction of embryos, The Independent reported. The opponents were several majority Catholic countries as well as Germany, where biological research brings up memories of Nazi experiments.
Britain's science minister, David Sainsbury, predicted scientists will now likely to come to Europe from the United States. Last week, U.S. President George Bush vetoed a bill that would have allowed federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research using embryos discarded from in vitro fertilization.
"Symbolically it is very significant. In Europe we are moving forward on this front whereas America has taken -- as far as the federal government is concerned -- a very negative position," he said. "There is a group of American scientists who are very disillusioned."
