Mystified by embryo research vote

IN Ann Cahill’s article, “FF role criticised as EU votes for research using human embryos” (Irish Examiner, June 16), Fine Gael MEP Simon Coveney said voting by Fianna Fáil MEPs was “inexplicable” and wondered “if they were serious in trying to limit research on human embryos…”.

I am also mystified.

The vote was not complicated nor hard to understand. There were three groups of bioethics amendments. The first protected the embryo and banned cloning in EU-funded research. The second was the compromise, allowing the use of embryonic stem cells created before December 31, 2003. This time limit removed the financial incentive to future embryo creation and destruction, and to cloning. The third group of amendments, one of which was co-authored by Leinster Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle, allowed EU funding of embryo research and of human cloning projects.