Press release 01/2004
January 28, 2004

Hermann Barth appointed to the German National Ethics Council

The Federal Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, today appointed Hermann Barth as a member of the National Ethics Council.

The distinguished Protestant theologian Dr Hermann Barth has been Vice-President of the Ecclesiastical Office of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Head of the Theology and Public Responsibility Division since 1993.

Bioethical issues have been a focal point of Dr Barth's interest since 1986. He contributed to the drafting of the Churches' joint declaration "God is a friend of life" (1989), the EKD's study of genetic engineering "Working in harmony with Creation" (1991) and the publication "Dealing with life in a spirit of love" (2002), which sets out the EKD's position on medical and bioethical questions of current concern. He is also the author of the volume "How Do We Wish to Live? Contributions on Bioethics from the Standpoint of the Evangelical Church" (2003).

Dr Barth succeeds Bishop Wolfgang Huber, who relinquished his membership of the National Ethics Council in November 2003 after being elected Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany.

Hermann Barth will take part in a meeting of the National Ethics Council for the first time on 19 February.

The members of the National Ethics Council welcome the Federal Chancellor's decision and look forward to working together fruitfully with their new colleague.

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