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German Ethics Council

The German Ethics Council ("Deutscher Ethikrat") is an independent body that provides expert ethical recommendations on questions pertaining to society and the individual.

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A medical professional draws up the vaccine from a vial of the BioNTech-Pfizer jab

German Ethics Council backs mandatory COVID vaccines

A narrow majority of experts on Germany's top ethical body has called for a general mandate, under certain conditions.
HealthDecember 22, 2021
Thurau Jens Kommentarbild App

Vaccinated must be patient

Jens Thurau
The German Ethics Council has said that vaccinated people should not enjoy special rights. It made the right decision.
SocietyFebruary 4, 2021
UK vaccine against COVID-19

Anti-vaxxers should forgo ventilators: German doctor

A German geneticist has said those who turn down the new COVID-19 vaccine should also refuse intensive care treatment.
HealthDecember 19, 2020
AfD MPs in the Bundestag

Outrage of AfD 'incest' query

German church and ethics spokesmen have slammed the wording of a far-right AfD query on incest leading to disability.
PoliticsApril 13, 2018
Deutsche Welle Strack Christoph Portrait

Third gender decision is long overdue

Christoph Strack
The ethical recommendation for a third gender actually came years ago. DW’s Christoph Strack finds the delay shameful.
SocietyNovember 8, 2017
Leipzig Plakat für eine dritte Option Intersexuelle

When 'male' or 'female' is insufficient

Intersex people are lodging a complaint over binary gender enforcement with Germany's Federal Constitutional Court.
SocietySeptember 3, 2016
Human embryonic stem cell under a microscope

An idiot's guide to human gene editing

Human gene editing tools have long raised hopes of preventing incurable diseases. It's time we learned more about them.
SocietyDecember 3, 2015
Image from a Big Data art exhibition, München

Big Data: a rocky road to big science

Big Data has been hyped up for years. It's finally got Germany's Ethics Council worried enough to work out a position.
ScienceMay 21, 2015
Siblings Patrick and Susan

Ethics Council: Legal incest?

The German Ethics Council has made a daring move and opposed the criminalization of incest between siblings. The matter was put to the council after appeals made by a Leipzig man over a relationship with his sister.
September 24, 2014
Ebola virus

Risky science

Science that can be used to bioterrorist ends might get a control mechanism in Germany.
May 8, 2014

Embryo screening

The German Ethics Council has failed to decide on genetic screening of test-tube embryos.
March 8, 2011

A Child - At all Costs

An increasing number of childless Germans are evading the German law, which forbids genetic research on human embryos, looking to fertility clinics abroad for treatment.
May 19, 2002

German Ethics Council Backs Stem Cell Imports

The German ethics council has given its backing for stem cell imports. The recommendation comes just days after a U.S. firm made front-page news when it said it had cloned a human embryo.
November 30, 2001