GERMANY: Chancellor Gerhard Schröder called yesterday for the loosening of laws restricting stem-cell research in Germany,drawing condemnation from conservative opponents and a warning from his Green Party allies.
"We should increasingly seize the chances. We cannot rashly remove options from the hands of scientists," Mr Schröder said on receiving an honorary doctorate at Göttingen University.
Parliament agreed in 2002 to the controlled import of embryonic cells from pre-existing stem lines, but barred their production in the country, a policy that mirrored a compromise on publicly funded research in the US.
Yet Mr Schröder has expressed concern that German researchers are losing out to counterparts in countries such as Britain, which allows "therapeutic cloning", using embryos as a source of stem cells to cure diseases.
Mr Schröder said Germany had a duty to explore the potential medical benefits of research on adult and embryonic cells, and asked what Germany would do if research elsewhere led to treatment for currently incurable diseases.
Christian Democrat Herbert Huppe, deputy chairman of a parliamentary medical ethics committee, said Mr Schröder would never find a majority for his proposal in the Bundestag.
The Catholic German Bishops' Conference warned of setting dangerous precedents.
The Greens cautioned against changing the law. "Not everything that can be done should be done. Human dignity has priority over the research and utilisation interests of third parties," said party chief Claudia Roth. - (Reuters)