Germany’s Stem Cell Act places very strict limits on research. The protection of life is a fundamental element in the law. The current debate focuses on the question of whether scientists in Germany should be allowed to work with embryonic stem cells that were produced after the statutory deadline of 1 January 2002. Why is this date so decisive?
One must differentiate here. The deadline is so important for the limits laid down in the stem cell legislation because it was intended to provide no encouragement to produce embryonic stem cells or order them abroad. If one were to change this deadline, which anyway only represented a legal exception, one would be making the deadline movable. One would be opening the door to arbitrariness. However, there are fundamental objections to an exception of this kind, since the production and use of embryonic stem cells presupposes the killing of the embryos. The Catholic Church therefore rejects any deadline of this kind. We did not consent to 1 January 2002. The essence of our argument is: if the embryo is very fundamentally a human living entity, and it therefore deserves human dignity and the protection of life, then we are prohibited from performing any intervention in the embryo that kills it – and let us not beat about the bush here. The price of life is too high. That is what matters. Unfortunately, however, this fundamental issue is frequently evaded, repressed or obscured.
Stem cell research aims to cure diseases associated with a great deal of human suffering. How do you resolve the contradiction that a too strict interpretation of the Stem Cell Act possibly hinders life-saving research?
This should not be a “contradiction”. “Life-saving research” cannot be bought at the cost of terminating another human life that also has human dignity and merits protection. That is the real contradiction. I hope that now incurable diseases can perhaps be brought under control through research developments in the course of the next years and decades. Yet there is no guarantee that this will happen as a result of embryonic stem cell research. Too many promises are made in this area that have not been fulfilled – at least not until now. Truly free research can not make any promises at all in this respect. Incidentally, those concerned are only disappointed by these promised cures. A false ethics of healing and suffering is unfortunately often applied here. We must continue to seek solutions in all ethically acceptable ways. One must not only pursue a single narrow approach. I know this is not a satisfactory answer for those concerned, but an unfounded promise of hope is basically even less of an answer.
Within the church, comparisons have been made between stem cell research and the experiments on humans carried out by the Nazis. Does a polarization of this kind do justice to the debate?
Personally, I decisively reject any direct comparison between present-day stem cell research and the human experiments of the Nazi era. Nevertheless, the misdeeds of that time should make us particularly sensitive to many forms of destruction of human life. With the naked eye you can barely see the minute living being at the embryonic stage. Scientific routine can also weaken reverence for life. The joy of discovery does not easily come to a halt. Bearing in mind today’s possibilities, in the face of these temptations, science needs great discipline, which must ultimately be grounded in strong ethical principles. After the experiences of recent decades I believe that today’s scientists will find them. Yet, precisely for that reason, there is a need for vigilance and for mutual and objective control by the research community. Only then can laws and regulations really take effect.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann
The Bishop of Mainz was Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference for twenty years until February 2008. Cardinal Lehmann is considered a cosmopolitan and liberal theologian.
