The Dutch senate has approved plans to allow specially grown embryos to be used for research into hereditary illnesses and infertility.
The bill, proposed by the liberal parties VVD and D66 during the last cabinet term while D66 was in opposition, achieved a narrow majority of 38 to 35 votes in the upper house.
The Christian parties ChristenUnie and SGP are opposed to cultivating embryos for scientific research because they see it as a violation of the sanctity of life.
The far-right PVV also voted against the plan, which party senator Ilse Bezaan called a “morally reprehensible” measure. “There are good alternatives, we shouldn’t open the door to a sliding scale,” she said.
Until now only embryos that are discarded during IVF treatment could be used for research purposes, but scientists say that using newly fertilised embryos would allow them to study the effect of treatments in the early stages of development.
