John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Commissioner. I am a fellow doctor. I was reading his interesting career history and commend him for his many professional and personal achievements. I also serve on the public affairs committee of the European Society of Medical Oncology, the group that regulates medical oncology. With other groups with a strong research focus, we are concerned about the potential implications of the EU data protection regulation and the chilling effect it could have on medical research in Europe. The regulation is being discussed at the Council and a trialogue is set to begin once the Council reaches agreement on its approach. Since the proposals were introduced in 2012, the European Society of Medical Oncology has been trying very hard to raise awareness of the potentially negative impact of the regulation on health research. However, the European Parliament's position on this topic has been very strict and limited. It has not fully appreciated the potentially negative effect the regulation could have on the conduct of research on cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and other diseases. That we are having a regulation, as well as a clinical trials regulation, gives us a unique opportunity to ensure this will not happen and that there will be a harmonised interpretation of articles and recitals pertaining to health research across the European Union. I request that the Commissioner try to ensure the final outcome of the regulation will create an environment that will foster, instead of restricting, health research, especially via a harmonised interpretation of the text across member states. I have been asked by my society to give the Commissioner a confidential briefing document which outlines the possibility of securing this from other national representatives in the European Society of Medical Oncology.

I became involved in the issue of producing anti-tobacco legislation and was shocked to discover the scope of the lobbying effort on behalf of the tobacco industry in Brussels. There are extraordinary levels of lobbying on the agriculture, manufacturing and commercial sides. Would the Commissioner like to make any comment on how we can combat the influence the tobacco companies are trying to have in thwarting the introduction of an appropriate tobacco regulation policy?