WHAT
CONCERNS ABOUT GENETICS AND BIOETHICS ARE BEING EXPERIENCED AND
EXPRESSED LOCALLY,
NATIONALLY, GLOBALLY?
Consider A Case...
(From
New York Times, May 30, 2001)
Clash
on Use of Embryos in Germany Stirs Echoes of Nazi Era
ROGER
COHEN
BERLIN, May 29 - A sharp debate clouded by memories of the Third Reich has
erupted in Germany over the ethics of research in biotechnology and
particularly the use of embryos for genetic inquiry and diagnosis.
The discussion has pitted Chancellor Gerhard Schröder against President
Johannes Rau, whose role is generally ceremonial but assumes significance
in such ethical matters, where the presidency is expected to act as a sort
of moral arbiter.
Mr. Schröder, a pragmatic Social Democrat, has taken a generally
laissez-faire view, arguing that gene technology produces new drugs,
creates new jobs and presents new opportunities for Germany. About 20
percent of European biotechnology companies are in Germany and the sector
is growing by 30 percent a year.
Rejecting the argument that human dignity would be compromised by allowing
research on in vitro embryos, Mr. Schröder has said that human dignity is
linked above all to "access to gainful employment" and that the
economic possibilities of biotechnology are too vast to ignore.
Such themes have been passionately debated in the United States and in
many European countries of late. But they are particularly sensitive in
Germany because of the extensive euthanasia program and other Nazi
experiments aimed at fashioning an unblemished master Aryan race.
Since he was elected in 1998, Mr. Schröder has aimed to remove or
attenuate a number of taboos prevalent because of the Nazi past. He speaks
freely of German power, interests and ambitions, both political and
economic, in a way that was unthinkable even a decade ago.
In extending this policy to the field of genetic research and engineering,
he has evidently angered Mr. Rau, another Social Democrat.
Using unusually vehement language for a German president, Mr. Rau said
last week that "eugenics, euthanasia and selection are labels which
are linked to bad memories in Germany." Appearing to rebuff the
chancellor, he added, "Where human dignity is affected, economic
arguments do not count." .......
[Referring to the 1990 law which currently bans genetic research on
embryos] Mr. Schröder has said research on embryos could be positive if
it helped scientific progress and led to lives being saved. "Our
moral responsibility is also to take care of our jobs and well
being," the chancellor said. .....
But Mr. Rau argued that any experiments on embryos were treacherous.
"Those who begin to instrumentalize human life, to differentiate
between worthy of life and unworthy of life, are on a runaway train,"
he said.
An opinion poll published today by Die Welt suggested that most Germans
back Mr. Rau's position. Asked whether embryo research that creates jobs
and prosperity was more important than the ethical questions surrounding
it, 70 percent said ethical considerations should take priority.
Prof. Mieth [a professor of theological ethics] suggested that two factors
had come together to stimulate the current impassioned discussions in
Germany .... The first, he said, was the emergence of a class of ever more
ambitious German parents determined to have children that would succeed in
an increasingly competitive society. "Individual wishes are driving
the possible mergence of eugenics, not the state, because people want
children for whom they can be ambitious," he argued.
The second factor, Prof. Mieth said, was the emergence of the medical and
scientific possibilities that mean it is no longer fanciful to think in
terms of the selection of certain characteristics for a child. "For
Mr. Schröder, all these developments are a matter of management,"
Prof. Mieth added. "for Mr. Rau, they are a matter of ethics."
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