New push to lift ban on producing embryos for scientific research

The Netherlands must follow other countries' example and lift the ban on making embryos for scientific research, according to coalition parties VVD and D66. Party chairmen Sophie Hermans (VVD) and Jan Paternotte (D66) submitted a private member's bill to this effect, Trouw reports.

According to the two parties, the use of embryos will still be subject to strict conditions. And they must be made for a defined purpose, such as to research quality improvements for current IVF treatments. Only a quarter of IVF attempts are currently successful, the parliamentarians said.

Lifting the ban could also improve the health of the over 4,000 children born each year through IVF. They often have a lower birth rate. Scientists need to study how an embryo develops in the first days after fertilization to find out why IVF babies tend to have a lower birth weight.

This topic was a point of contention in the formation of both the Rutte III and Rutte IV Cabinets, which consist of the same four parties. Christian parties CDA and ChristenUnie are vehemently against modernizing the embryo law, while liberal VVD and D66 are for it.