EU working on a new General Data Protection Regulation Act that may affect the use of personal data in research

EU is working on a new General Data Protection Regulation Act, which can make the use of personal data in research difficult. The European Data in Health Research Alliance has launched a petition (http://www.datasaveslives.eu/petition) for researchers and other individuals to show their support for defending research as a priority of general relevance.  For further background on this issue, see e.g. the Nature editorial from 23 June 2015 at “www.nature.com/news/data-overprotection-1.17825”.