Ukrainian scandal casts grave shadow over pending European Commission proposal on European Free Trade Zone in stem cells and engineered tissue

June 06, 2006

(Strasbourg, France)-The European Centre for Law and Justice has been working with Members of European Parliament in regards an investigation into the claims of two Ukrainian physicians, now refuges in Ireland, that a widespread criminal conspiracy exists involving bribery and fraud to coerce women into having late term abortions in order to harvest the fetus’ for tissue and embryonic stem cells. The claims go further that many of the babies are birthed alive rather than aborted in order to have better preserved tissue and stem cells for harvesting.

The claims of the physicians have been separately corroborated by reputable newspapers such as Canada’s Globe and Mail and the United Kingdom’s Guardian. In addition, members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have called for an opening of investigations into the scandal after visiting a maternity hospital in Kiev where several women claimed that their babies had been stolen. Hospital officials claimed the babies died during childbirth but refused to provide the remains of the infants to their mothers. When police investigated, they could not find the remains but did find an unusually high number of dead infants with organs missing from them. Sources say that the tissue is being sold to western research laboratories and cosmetic companies.

The two physicians originally uncovered the conspiracy by posing as buyers at one of the suspect clinics and were able to get purchase slips for embryonic brain cells. The physicians explained to ECLJ legal counsel that in order to harvest embryonic brain cells, the tissue must be harvested within eight hours of the death of the infant, meaning in all likelihood, these babies were born alive. The accusations are very serious not only because of the obvious moral and criminal behavior involved, but also because of the millions of dollars invested into such research by European and American firms.

Concerns have arisen during recent debates over the European Commission proposal on advanced therapies which mandate the creation of a free trade zone for engineered tissue and stem cells. Earlier last year, the Parliament passed a resolution condemning the discovery that British fertility clinics were hyper-ovulating indigent Romanian women in order to harvest embryonic stem cells. ECLJ has been working with the bill’s rapporteur and a shadow rapporteur in order to ensure that the Commission guarantee’s that all tissue and cells involved in the bill will meet traceability requirements. Legal Counsel from the European Centre also has other concerns regarding bioethical issues brought up in the proposal.