SPD's Beck wants measured approach to stem cell law review
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The head of German's SPD party, Kurt Beck, has rejected calls by the German research society (DFG) for a rapid liberalisation of the law on stem cell research. "This would be the wrong way to go," he said in an interview published by Rheinisch Merkur, indicating that the associated ethical issues warrant a considered approach to any review of the law. He advocated a bolder policy for the use of stem cell therapies in the most seriously ill, however. But his fundamental views have set him on a collision course with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has expressly asked the scientific community to offer ideas that can serve as the basis for an overhaul of Germany's stem cell legislation.