Quantum gravitational contributions to the beta function of quantum electrodynamics

We show in a diagrammatic and regularization independent analysis that the quadratic contribu- tion to the beta function which has been conjectured to render quantum electrodynamics asymp- totically free near the Planck scale has its origin in a surface term. Such surface term is intrinsically arbitrarily valued and it is argued to vanish in a consistent treatment of the model.