Dear Editor,
On 3rd March, Scientists for EU will launch their campaign, Healthier in the EU, and I am proud to be on their advisory board.
The positive impact that EU membership has on our health is often overlooked. But whether it’s regulation to improve air and water quality, funding for research into new treatments and medicines or simply by facilitating cooperation between experts from across Europe, the EU has an important role to play in protecting our health.
I’ve been actively working on health issues in the European Parliament for some time and in 2014 I helped to draft new legislation on clinical trials. The new law will reduce the administrative burden for those carrying out research, ensure high safety standards are in place and make it much easier to carry out trials in more than one member state. This is particularly important for research into rare diseases, where there often not enough patients in one country to make a trial viable.
Under the new rules, the results of all clinical trials will have to be published, so negative results can’t simply be hidden away, which is good for patients and good for research. This is just one example of how British politicians are able to influence EU law and, crucially, that we can achieve much more when we work together with our EU partners.
There are many more ways that the EU helps to promote the health and wellbeing of our citizens and I would urge anyone who wants to know more about what the EU does for us to visit www.healthierin.eu.
Dame Glenis Willmott
Labour MEP East Midlands
