EPAA five-day-old human embryo
NOS News•today, 10:04•Changed today, 11:43
The Health Council advises the cabinet to legally allow scientific research to be carried out on human embryos up to 28 days old. The legal limit for allowing embryos left over from IVF treatments to grow outside the uterus via culture is now 14 days.
According to the Health Council, this expansion offers the opportunity to better investigate, among other things, why some embryos develop into children with congenital heart problems or a spina bifida. That knowledge cannot yet be obtained in any other way.
The council has formed a special advisory committee with leading experts for this advice. This committee emphasizes that any research on an embryo is dependent on parental consent and that it is medically and ethically tested by the Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (CCMO).
Research will only be permitted if no alternative methods are available. It must also be plausible that the research will produce results that could be of significant scientific and medical importance.
Consciousness only at 22 weeks
The use of embryos is socially sensitive because an embryo is considered the beginning of human life. It is particularly controversial within religious communities.
The Health Council has investigated when an embryo has been developed in such a way that even research with a major scientific breakthrough cannot be morally justified. That would be the case when consciousness can no longer be ruled out. But according to the Health Council, this is only the case from 22 weeks.
In early embryonic development, steps also take place with moral significance, but according to the Health Council, a clear, broadly supported limit cannot be deduced from this.
It is clear that important embryonic processes take place in the period between 14 and 28 days that can lead to congenital defects. There is currently virtually no knowledge available about this development.
Synthetic embryos
The 28-day limit should also apply when research is conducted with so-called embryo-like structures (ELS), which resemble human embryos. ELS are made using stem cells for research purposes. They now do not receive the same legal protection as human embryos. According to the Health Council, this should change with ELS, which imitate an intact embryo. Because theoretically it cannot be ruled out that ELS can develop into a human being.
The Health Council states that it is “crucial” that the government properly explains these considerations to society in order to create broad support for expanding research possibilities.
Worldwide, the Netherlands is one of the countries that follows a middle path with the current rules for embryo research. This is in contrast to some American states where there are no rules at all regarding research with embryos and other countries where this type of research is completely prohibited.
Until recently, there was no discussion about extending the period, because it was not possible to grow an embryo through culture for longer than 7 to 14 days. That is now possible.
But whether it will happen depends on the elections and a new cabinet. NSC, Pieter Omtzigt’s party which, given the polls, can play an important role in the upcoming formation, indicates in the party program that it wants to be cautious and cautious in research with embryos. BBB wants to maintain the current rules, while VVD wants to make more room for embryo research. GroenLinks/PvdA and PVV, also parties that are doing well in the polls, have nothing in their election manifesto about embryo research.
2023-10-31 10:43:59
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