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At a meeting in Berlin on Thursday, members of the committee that advises the German government on ethical issues failed to find a common position on how the country should respond to a decision last week that made the British government the first in Europe to permit therapeutic cloning for medical research. The body had been expected to issue a joint statement on Thursday, but a decision has now been postponed until September.

 

The German government has sought to avoid revisiting the prickly issue. "From our side, we don't see any reason for this issue to be taken up," said Ulrich Kasparick, a Social Democratic state secretary in the Ministry of Research. "There's no majority in favor of changing the cloning ban."

 

The latest discussion was sparked by Simitis, who called for the German parliament, the Bundestag, to issue a reaction to the British developments this week.

 

"The Bundestag can no longer just deal with this issues using general statements like, 'We are for or against cloning,'" Simitis, who formerly sat on the bench of Germany's...