The Dutch Medical Council recommends that scientists should be authorised to create human embryos for research purposes, which would pave the way for the genetic handling of these embryos using “genome editing” techniques.
On Tuesday, the Dutch Medical Council’s report was presented to Health Minister, Edith Schippers, asking the Government to abandon current legislation which allows scientists to use “surplus embryos” obtained through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). The Council suggests updating the “legal and moral framework” to allow the creation of embryos for research in accordance with “stringent conditions”. Amending legislation in this way would allow scientists to “edit the genome” of embryos – procedures which are more difficult to carry out in surplus embryos.
This claim has fuelled criticism – we are embarking on a “slippery slope” once we start “to use human life as a research tool”.
Bioedge, Xavier Symons (1/04/2017)