Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk loses one of his closest colleagues as professor Gerald Schatten at University of Pittsburgh vowed to leave the joint stem cell project due to ethical problems. Schatten said Saturday in a statement that he would pull out of the world stem cell bank project led by Hwang because he might be engaged in ethical breaches and lie about them.

"Regrettably, yesterday information came to my attention suggesting that misrepresentations might have occurred relating to egg donations (for Hwang's research)," Schatten said. "I have contacted appropriate academic and regulatory agencies regarding this new information and accordingly, have suspended my collaborations with professor Hwang," he said....

Hwang's team has officially used 427 eggs for the milestone result and rumors had swirled midway through 2004 that Hwang recruited eggs from a young scientist in his lab for the research.
By Kim Tae-gyu, Korea Times (November 13, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200511/kt2005111317162010220.htm

[dulouz]

Thats gotta be the dumbest thing to get busted for. Thats as dumb as it gets. Its so it shouldn't even be wrong.

[On the other hand]

[dulouz]

Yes, thats exactly right. Women still frighten and confuse me but from what I recall 99% of the eggs produced are wasted. Its not as plentiful as blood or man-seed but eggs really aren't in short supply. That staff member donated 400 plus eggs? She was on the table every month for 4 years. I have to be missing something.

[patchy]

I had a bad feeling about all of this from the beginning. I don't think it's any credit that the Koreans have rushed into the stem cell thing. I give a lot of flack to the Americans (although they deserve it) but I'm inclined to believe that the US is doing the right thing in this case by not doing stem cell research on embryos. Doing research on embryos crosses an ethical line I believe and the brouhaha going on right now with Dr Hwang shows that when the ethical lines are crossed there's no turning back, things only get worse.

There's a lot of corruption in these academic circles anyway from what I have learned by having exposure to it here, with senior academics getting their juniors to write their papers for them. It's not uncommon for a paper to have five or six names at the top but only one person involved in the research and the writing up of it, usually the most junior person. Massive plagiarization too. Could happen in the west too I suppose, but probably not to the extent it does here. So sleazy, they don't even bother to cover up what they're doing, and will let outsiders (me) see everything that's going on unashamedly.

[4 months left]

Not surprising, it was only a matter of time before something happened. Let's see them spin this with miracle kimchee or chopstick manual dexterity...it will be interesting how they try to defend it.

[Paji eh Wong]

Is it wrong that the first thing that popped into my head when I read that was "Is the egg donor hot"?

[peppermint]

[Real Reality]

Last week, Schatten had directly accused Hwang in an interview with the Washington Post. "I now have information that leads me to believe he had misled me. My trust has been shaken. I am sick at heart. I am not going to be able to collaborate with Woo-suk," Schatten said.
I Will Tell Everything Soon: Hwang
By Cho Jin-seo, Korea Times (November 14, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200511/kt2005111417293810160.htm

Member of Hwang Team Involved in Ovum Scandal
After creating a joint team with Hwang and professor Moon Shin-yong at Seoul National University in 2001, Roh spearheaded the attention-grabbing stem cell experiments.

Even though Roh said all stem cell research has been facilitated with voluntarily contributed eggs, suspicions still run deep that the cloning research also might use purchased eggs.

In fact, the ovum production en masse is quite dangerous for donors since they are required to take hormone injections before egg retrieval.
By Kim Tae-gyu, Korea Times (November 8, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200511/kt2005110817390153460.htm

[Paji eh Wong]

Ovum-gate is go!






I really shouldn't be allowed near this issue.

[gypsyfish]

Did anyone else notice that one of the scientists' name is Ahn, Cu-rie? I've been in Korea nine years and have never seen the name Cu-rie. I'll bet it was made up to look like Madame (Marie) Curie's name.

First it was Birdie Kim, now Curie Ahn.

[dulouz]

I'm surprised that American researcher didn't suspect anything until he was told. How closely was he working with the team?

I think they want eggs from the same donor, they like to have consistantcy.

[The King of Kwangju]

I wouldn't think this would have any impact on the research, if it's even true. They'll continue with or without the Americans.

An even if true, they will still have them lined up around the block when the clinic finally opens. People are desperate for what they are selling.

To be honest I think the west is being short-sighted. When this stuff starts to cure people western patients and doctors will be falling over each other trying to get to Asia.

[dulouz]

Yea, thats pretty much the case. NPR interviewed an ethicist that worked for some big organiztion and he but all threw in the towel. International ethics recognizes all cultures and culture is locally if not personally defined. So its pretty much whatever goes.

[Paji eh Wong]