The regulatory evolution of medical technologies in the EU offers a unique perspective with regard to highlighting significant elements of both European science policy and the development of European institutions, especially with regard to the passage from their (primarily) economic to their political phases. Since the early 1990s, while establishing a market for biotechnology, the European Communities have been developing some policy-related visions of technoscience and its potential risks, while at the same time framing the concept of European citizenship through European values and rights. The emerging and re-emerging medical technology of xenotransplantation, namely the clinical use of cells, tissues, and organs between species, while having evolved from its primary focus on organs to so-called advanced therapies (cell therapy, gene therapy, and tissue-engineered products), also provided an opportunity to test and implement different science policy models in dealing with risks and uncertainties in the European knowledge-based and innovation-oriented society.
A key moment for European science policy