German court circumcision ban meets wave of criticism

Reuters – Thu, Jun 28, 2012 BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's foreign minister added his voice on Thursday to a chorus of criticism of a court decision to ban the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons, arguing that such traditions must be permitted in a tolerant society.

"Germany is an open-minded, tolerant country where religious freedom is firmly established and religious traditions like circumcision are considered an expression of religious pluralism," Guido Westerwelle told the daily Bild in an interview to be published in its Friday edition.

A court in Cologne ruled on Tuesday that involuntary religious circumcision should be illegal as it could inflict serious bodily harm on people who had not consented to it.

The ruling, which applies only to the area around the western city of Cologne but sparked fears among Muslims and Jews in particular that other German states could copy the ban, said boys can consciously decide to be circumcised later in life.

According to the court ruling, "the fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighs the fundamental rights of the parents".

Westerwelle said the ruling caused "irritation" around the world after being reported in the international media.

The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet's website said Turkish European Minister Egemen Bagis had criticized the German ruling, saying that circumcision was a matter of freedom of religion and conscience.

"If German judges have a problem understanding this issue, we can send our scientific circumcisers, we can give them lessons in how to circumcise," he was quoted as saying.

"We are ready to make any contribution for a country that is a friend and ally. But it is not possible for us to accept this ruling as a fait accompli ... God willing, this verdict will be changed," Bagis said.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany called the ruling an "unprecedented and dramatic intrusion" on religious freedom and the Central Council of Muslims in Germany called it "blatant and inadmissible interference" in the rights of parents.

Germany's two main Christian churches also criticized the Cologne court ruling, the Catholic Episcopal Conference calling it "extremely disconcerting".

"To ban circumcision is a serious attack on religious freedom," said Catholic Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff.

The Evangelical Church's Hans Ulrich Anke said: "Religious freedom and parents' right to choose how to educate their children have not been weighed against the fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity".

The United Nations' special rapporteur on religious freedom, Heiner Bielefeldt, told German radio the court's reasoning was "nonsense".

(Edited by Stephen Brown, editing by Tim Pearce)

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Peregrine soars as cancer drug meets trial goal

Reuters – 1 hr 31 mins ago (Reuters) - Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc said results from a mid-stage trial showed that its key experimental drug performed better than standard chemotherapy in lung cancer patients who had not responded to primary therapy, sending its shares up 36 percent.

Peregrine tested two doses of its drug, bavituximab, along with standard chemotherapy treatment as a second-line treatment in 112 non small-cell lung cancer patients.

These results come two months after data from another study showed that bavituximab did not fare significantly better than a placebo when used as a first-line treatment for non small-cell lung cancer.

Peregrine's shares, which have fallen 35 percent since the first-line trial data was announced in March, were up 18 percent at $0.51 on Monday.

In the second-line treatment study, both doses met the secondary goal of stopping cancer progression for more than 4 months, compared with 3 months for those treated with a combination of the standard therapy and a placebo, Peregrine said in a statement.

"We are impressed by the strong clinical data for the primary overall response rates endpoint as well as the current indications of a survival benefit," Roth Capital analyst Joseph Pantginis said in a note.

Peregrine is also testing bavituximab as a treatment for pancreatic cancer. However, the company is targeting a much bigger market with non small-cell lung cancer.

Non small-cell is the most common type of lung cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates lung cancer claims the lives of more than 160,000 people every year, representing about 28 percent of all cancer deaths.

The analyst said the positive results could potentially move partnering discussions to the next level and expects Peregrine to discuss the study details with U.S. health regulators in the second half of the year.

Pantginis, who had cut his price target on the stock twice since the frontline study, raised it to $5 from $3.30 and said bavituximab has a broad therapeutic potential.

The drug did not show any significant safety issues when compared with the standard therapy in the study, Peregrine said.

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

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