Germany Hints At Loosening of Stem Cell Law

In a speech at Berlin's Humboldt University on Wednesday, Zypries said that embryonic stem cell research opens up valuable opportunities for scientists, and added that lawmakers should ask themselves whether Germany's current regulations on the use of embryos in research are too strict.

When parliament passed Germany's law on stem cell research in April 2002, it prompted a huge ethical debate in the Bundestag. The result was a compromise: the law states research on stem cells is only allowed if they were imported and created before January 1, 2002.

When does life begin?

In her speech, Zypries, a Social Democrat, challenged another area of German law on the protection of embryos, which states that human life begins at the moment of conception. Zypries' predecessor, Herta Däubler-Gmelin, consistently defended this position, which proponents of genetic technology say restricts embryonic research and progress on in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

An embryo created in a petri dish currently enjoys the same protection as an embryo inside the womb. But Zypries' view is that as long as the embryo is in vitro, it lacks the necessary conditions to develop into a human being. The abstract possibility of further development is not sufficient to guarantee protection of human rights, the minister said.

"We can't find the 'right' answers to the questions of biomedicine simply by looking them up in our basic law," Zypries said. "Instead, we have to make the effort, for each issue that arises, to carefully analyze and weigh the opportunities and the risks of biomedicine."

The justice minister's speech could signal a shift in the stance of the German government on stem cell research. A spokesman for Gerhard Schröder said the chancellor supported a discussion over whether the boundaries set in the current law go too far.

Conservative approach

Zypries' opinions suggest a new basic understanding by the government on questions of bioethics and, especially, the use of embryos in medical research. But rather than advising an immediate lifting of the current restrictions, she opted for a more conservative approach.

Contrary to previous statements, she said she opposed in principle the use of pre-implantation diagnosis (PID). The procedure is designed to help parents with the risk of passing on genetic diseases to their offspring by doing tests on embryos before they are implanted in the womb. Only those embryos considered not at risk of developing the disease are implanted, the others are discarded.

Zypries explained her rejection of PID by arguing that no one has the right to decide which lives are worthy of living. She advised couples wishing to use PID to instead choose, "as hard as it may be," to not have biological children.

The justice minister also said she was against therapeutic cloning of embryos for the harvesting of stem cells since, in this case, embryos are created with the knowledge that they will be destroyed. More permissible, in her view, is the use of "leftover" embryos that are created for IVF but are not implanted in the womb.

Church, politicians condemn speech

The suggestion that the government might loosen the stem cell law in the coming months drew criticism from many quarters.

Maria Böhmer, deputy chairwoman of the opposition Christian Democratic Union's parliamentary group, warned the government not to create any leeway in a law intended to protect human dignity, saying any effort to loosen the law threatened to transform "embryos from people to material."

Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of the Green's parliamentary group, Reinhard Loske, said the law needed "in no way to be amended," arguing that the existing supply of stem cells in Germany was sufficient for research needs.

Germany's Roman Catholic also criticized Zypries' speech. The German Bishops' Conference, the national Catholic leadership body, accused the justice minister of seeking to cast doubt on the human value of an in vitro embryo. The church reiterated its demand that human dignity be respected at "every stage in human life."