Last week, the German National Ethics Council - a medical ethics policy group that advises the German government - voted in favour of relaxing strict legal prohibitions on human embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research, providing hope to frustrated scientists that legislative change may be on its way. Horst Dreier announced the Council's decision, warning: 'If current rules remain, German science will be hopelessly sidelined'. The German Research Society (DFG) agreed with and welcomed the decision.
The German Parliament, following extensive heated debate, went one step further than the US to ban ES research on any stem cell line created after January 1, 2002; thus prohibiting the importing of foreign-sourced new ES cell lines. Also, the 2002 law only permits basic research on the 20 pre-2002 existing lines, prohibiting diagnostic and therapeutic research.
A small majority of the Ethics Council voted 14-10 in favour of ending the 2002 ban and instead creating an authority to approve, on an individual case basis, any research using newly imported stem cells. The council expressly wanted any new law to safeguard ethical standards, requiring imported stem cells to come from reliable, broadly available sources and preventing stem cell manufacturer profiteering. Creation of new stem cell lines would still be prohibited, which some critics argue is a confused, hypocritical double-standard. The Die Welt conservative newspaper described it as a 'half-hearted compromise'. Other German newspapers claimed that the decision regurgitates tired arguments and only serves to highlight that the law needs an update.
In contrast, the German Bishops' Conference warned against change, saying 'We must not subordinate the protection of life to the freedom of research'. Like in the US, ES cell research in Germany is a highly emotive moral issue but for different reasons, which shift the focus from embryo destruction to potentially creating an unethical market that exploits human embryos as a commoditised source for stem cells. However, politicians agree the debate should be reconsidered in Parliament this autumn. Rene Rospel, the Social Democratic Party's research expert, proposed last week to move the ban date to 1 May, 2007.
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