Germany allows genetic embryo testing
Source: Agencies |
July 8, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AFTER an emotional debate, German lawmakers voted yesterday to allow a procedure that looks for genetic disorders in embryos before they are implanted in the womb.
Lawmakers voted 326-260 to permit the procedure known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis under strict conditions after a debate that crossed party lines. Eight lawmakers abstained.
The procedure is used after in vitro fertilization, when parents whose families have a history of genetic disorders want to avoid having a child with a lethal or debilitating birth defect.
While it is permitted in other countries, its legality had been a gray area in Germany. Parliament took up the issue after a federal court ruled that a doctor who had performed the procedure hadn't committed any offense.
Under the law approved yesterday, an ethics commission will have to decide on a case-by-case basis whether couples can use the procedure.
A large minority of lawmakers had favored a total ban, with some saying even limited permission for genetic selection set a bad precedent. "This is about variety: do we want to allow it in our society?" asked Katrin Goering-Eckardt of the opposition Greens, one of those advocating a ban.
But lawmakers who backed allowing the practice said it would be an option only in a few cases, and argued that parents who worry about possible genetic defects should be trusted with the decision to use it.
"I am firmly convinced that we should not choose to close our eyes to how we can use modern medicine appropriately to support and help these long-suffering families," said Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen. Opposition lawmaker Soeren Bartol said he wanted to give couples at risk of passing on genetic disorders the option of deciding to have a child.
"I would also like these parents to be spared, as far as possible, the terrible experience of a miscarriage or a still birth," he added.
Despite the lawmakers' emotional debate, medical researchers say the procedure, a test done to pick the best embryos, has largely proved to be a disappointment.
Lawmakers voted 326-260 to permit the procedure known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis under strict conditions after a debate that crossed party lines. Eight lawmakers abstained.
The procedure is used after in vitro fertilization, when parents whose families have a history of genetic disorders want to avoid having a child with a lethal or debilitating birth defect.
While it is permitted in other countries, its legality had been a gray area in Germany. Parliament took up the issue after a federal court ruled that a doctor who had performed the procedure hadn't committed any offense.
Under the law approved yesterday, an ethics commission will have to decide on a case-by-case basis whether couples can use the procedure.
A large minority of lawmakers had favored a total ban, with some saying even limited permission for genetic selection set a bad precedent. "This is about variety: do we want to allow it in our society?" asked Katrin Goering-Eckardt of the opposition Greens, one of those advocating a ban.
But lawmakers who backed allowing the practice said it would be an option only in a few cases, and argued that parents who worry about possible genetic defects should be trusted with the decision to use it.
"I am firmly convinced that we should not choose to close our eyes to how we can use modern medicine appropriately to support and help these long-suffering families," said Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen. Opposition lawmaker Soeren Bartol said he wanted to give couples at risk of passing on genetic disorders the option of deciding to have a child.
"I would also like these parents to be spared, as far as possible, the terrible experience of a miscarriage or a still birth," he added.
Despite the lawmakers' emotional debate, medical researchers say the procedure, a test done to pick the best embryos, has largely proved to be a disappointment.
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