Press Release: European ethics group elects new president

The first meeting of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) was held in Brussels on 29 May 2001. Noëlle Lenoir was elected as its President and Göran Hermeren as Vice-President. This follows the Commission's decision of 26 March 2001 to renew the EGE's mandate until 2004, acting on a proposal by President Romano Prodi. The next opinion to be issued by the EGE will deal with two topical issues which raise serious ethical problems: the use of human stem cells and the patentability of the inventions deriving from such research, and a code of practice for research carried out in developing countries.