Pressure on the German Embryo Protection Act is growing. The scientific community is launching a renewed attack on the controversial law and demands access to embryos for so-called high-ranking research objectives. “Germline therapies” are among the boastful promises of the proponents.
The German Embryo Protection Act (ESchG) prohibits not only controversial reproductive technologies such as oocyte transfer and surrogacy, but also research on human embryos.
Since its adoption, the ESchG has attracted the displeasure of some German scientists who disagree with its moral-theological justification and seemingly irrational unequal treatment of embryos before the law. After all, although abortion is prohibited, it can – unlike embryo research – be carried out by those involved under certain circumstances with impunity. And as researchers have not tired of pointing out for more than three decades, embryos produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF), which is now carried out tens of thousands of times a year, are regularly discarded if they are not used, effectively “killed.”
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Proponents of embryo research are now putting forward a new argument, claiming a need to further develop new genome editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas for reproductive applications.
