Government-commissioned research suggests that more public debate is necessary to reach any conclusion
Two public surveys, one commissioned by Hugo de Jonge, minister of health, welfare and sports, have shown that opinions on the creation of embryos for research purposes in the Netherlands are extremely mixed, although they may be shifting slowly towards greater acceptance.
Breeding embryos for scientific purposes, such as stem cell research, is banned in the Netherlands, and the minister aimed to find out under what conditions Dutch citizens and academics would approve of the ban being lifted.