Reproductive medicine - framework conditions, scientific-technical progress and consequences

  • Type of event:

    Berichtspräsentation

  • Venue:

    Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment

  • Date:

    27.10.2010

  • Time:

    10.00-12.00

Reproductive medicine discussed in the Bundestag

TAB presents project results on reproductive medicine in a public meeting of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment

Against the background of the current debates on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in public and politics, the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment of the German Bundestag had decided to hold the presentation of the results of the final report on the TA project "Reproductive Medicine - General Conditions, Scientific and Technical Progress and Consequences" on 27 October 2010 within the framework of a public committee meeting. The two-hour event was attended - in addition to the committee members - by numerous representatives from parliamentary groups, ministries, the specialist public and the media.

The fact that the TAB report could be presented at the present time and thus "highly topical also against the background of the judgement of the Federal Supreme Court on the criminal liability of PGD as well as the recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the application of reproductive medicine techniques" - according to the committee chairwoman Ulla Burchardt - was described by the representatives of all parliamentary groups as a "precision landing". The results of the project, which were presented in detail by the project managers Bärbel Hüsing and Christoph Revermann, led to many interested questions from the members of parliament. In particular, a possible further development of the legal framework for the applications of reproductive medicine in Germany was discussed. The BFTA Committee decided to accept the report and to publish it as a Bundestag printed matter.

In addition, on November 8, 2010, the report - as well as supplementary research results on the topic area "PGD" - was presented and intensively discussed in the specially arranged meeting of the working group "Biotechnology and Bioethics" of the parliamentary group Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, in which about 25 members of parliament and parliamentary group staff participated. Further presentations in other committees as well as discussion rounds in the working groups of the parliamentary groups will follow.

The report will presumably be available in printed form as TAB Working Report No. 139 before the end of the year.

11.11.2010

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