By Terry Vanderheyden
SEOUL, November 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – South Korean embryonic stem-cell scientist and national celebrity Hwang Woo-suk has been publicly “disgraced”– not for killing embryonic children – but for the unethical practice of using donated eggs from his female colleagues.
Publicly apologizing for the unethical practice and admitting he lied to cover it up, Hwang announced he is resigning from his public posts including his chairman position at the World Stem Cell Hub, which supplies scientists world-wide with embryonic stem cells.
“I am very sorry that I have to tell the public words that are too shameful and horrible,” he said in a press conference, according to a BBC report. “I again sincerely apologise [sic] for having stirred concern at home and abroad. Being too focused on scientific development, I may not have seen all the ethical issues related to my research,” he explained. “We needed a lot of ova [eggs] for the research but there were not enough ova around.”
Hwang alleges the women scientists donated their eggs under assumed names, after he initially refused their offer. He later lied to Nature magazine, telling them the ova were not from his colleagues. He said he lied because of a “strong request by the researchers to protect their privacy.”
A major US stem cell researcher, Gerald Schatten, severed his ties with Hwang last week citing ethical objections over the origins of the donated ova. Dr. Schatten was concerned that ethical rules concerning ova donation were broken and that he had been misled by Hwang.
Hwang catapulted to international fame in May by being the first scientist in the world to create cloned human embryos and later, to create clones of patients in order to obtain stem cells specifically intended for disease therapies.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Cloners in State of Complete Moral Disconnect
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05060809.html
Korean Cloning Doctor Creates and Kills Clones from Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/05052009.html