Ethical scandal around a Corean professor specialist of cloning
The Corean professor, Hwang Woo-Suk, a world specialist of cloning had to resign on the 24 November 2005, in the wake of an ethical scandal around his works on cloning.
Hwang, whose laboratory was dubbed by the reputed American Time magazine a “trailblazer” in the field of animal and human cloning, was accused of having accepted that his subordinates donate their oocytes for the research on cloning. Ethically, gift of cells or body parts by subordinates is traditionally banned in the scientific community, because subordinates might feel pressured into “giving” these cells owing to their subordination.
While Hwang resigned, a popular movement arose, where hundreds of Korean women volunteered to give their own oocytes for research. Partially owing to a context of sensitive nationalism, partially to the birth of a web site “Ilovehws” which collects promises of gifts, many of the donors appear to have been impressed by the potentialities of stem cell research – even though they have largely remained theoretical to date.
The point is that South Korea has invested much in embryonic stem cell research – which is forbidden in many countries around the world, among others France and the U.S. Hence, the scandal falls very badly for a country which is trying to take a lead in the potentially astronomic economic advantages that might result of a breakthrough in the therapeutical use of stem cells.
Latest research give however a hope for a continuation of research in a direction less ethically sensitive: it might be possible to use stem cells of the walls of the ovaries, thus eliminating the need to use oocytes. It should not be inferred that the ethical problems related to the destruction of potential life in the embryo would be eliminated: in fact the multipotent cells of an ovary have a capacity of differentiating into… oocytes. Hence, the development of a human embryo and its destruction to obtain stem cells would remain a necessity, even through this technique. Nevertheless, an evolution was visible on the front of the French legislator, who is seriously considering legalising stem cell research.
It might be noticed that this ethical scandal only illustrates the dangers when the economic possibilities offered by unethical research take over the respect of norms edicted for the common good.
Hwang, whose laboratory was dubbed by the reputed American Time magazine a “trailblazer” in the field of animal and human cloning, was accused of having accepted that his subordinates donate their oocytes for the research on cloning. Ethically, gift of cells or body parts by subordinates is traditionally banned in the scientific community, because subordinates might feel pressured into “giving” these cells owing to their subordination.
While Hwang resigned, a popular movement arose, where hundreds of Korean women volunteered to give their own oocytes for research. Partially owing to a context of sensitive nationalism, partially to the birth of a web site “Ilovehws” which collects promises of gifts, many of the donors appear to have been impressed by the potentialities of stem cell research – even though they have largely remained theoretical to date.
The point is that South Korea has invested much in embryonic stem cell research – which is forbidden in many countries around the world, among others France and the U.S. Hence, the scandal falls very badly for a country which is trying to take a lead in the potentially astronomic economic advantages that might result of a breakthrough in the therapeutical use of stem cells.
Latest research give however a hope for a continuation of research in a direction less ethically sensitive: it might be possible to use stem cells of the walls of the ovaries, thus eliminating the need to use oocytes. It should not be inferred that the ethical problems related to the destruction of potential life in the embryo would be eliminated: in fact the multipotent cells of an ovary have a capacity of differentiating into… oocytes. Hence, the development of a human embryo and its destruction to obtain stem cells would remain a necessity, even through this technique. Nevertheless, an evolution was visible on the front of the French legislator, who is seriously considering legalising stem cell research.
It might be noticed that this ethical scandal only illustrates the dangers when the economic possibilities offered by unethical research take over the respect of norms edicted for the common good.
posted by dawnofeurope | 6:48 pm
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